The Call of Duty League 2021 season has had its final normal event with the end of the Stage 5 Major. The final tournament before the playoffs and postseason content, the event concluded with the Minnesota Rokkr Stage 5 Major win and some insane implications for the championship.

Without a doubt, the Minnesota Rokkr Stage 5 Major win was one of the most insane moments in Call of Duty esports history, but it is only one part of the entire event. The tournament, in general, was an absolute ball of craziness that could not have been possibly more bizarre than we expected. 

The results were not what we predicted at all. There were some unbelievable upsets, outstanding showcases from unexpected teams, one-of-a-kind comebacks, and so much more. I am totally fine with that, as it led to an event that was so much more entertaining than anything before it. 

One of the biggest complaints that we have seen from the community and something I agree with is how predictable the Call of Duty League has been for the past two years. There are upsets and surprises now and then, but nothing too extraordinary most of the time. 

However, everything about the Stage 5 Major and the conclusion was almost entirely unbelievably surprising from start to finish. Even the few somewhat predictable matches typically went farther and were a lot closer than we anticipated. 

It was, no doubt, the most fun and exciting event of the two seasons of the league that we have had thus far. This is likely in no small part due to the return of fans to the scene. It likely propelled certain teams higher than they would have gone otherwise due to adversity and popularity. 

With the tournament’s conclusion with the Minnesota Rokkr Stage 5 Major win, the final Call of Duty League 2021 standings have been revealed. This is the end of the normal season of the league, with the only event left being the actual championship itself. 

However, the standings will not change at all. This is set in stone now for the season, revealing the best teams in the league and who will be placed where in the upcoming playoffs. You can find the final Call of Duty League 2021 season standings below, listed from first to last-place:

• Atlanta FaZe: 525 points
• Toronto Ultra: 415 points
• Dallas Empire: 400
• OpTic Chicago: 360
• New York Subliners: 340
• Minnesota Rokkr: 305
• Los Angeles Thieves: 240
• Florida Mutineers: 210
• Seattle Surge: 120
• London Royal Ravens: 110
• Los Angeles Guerrillas: 100
• Paris Legion: 100

Of course, the bottom four teams on the leaderboard will not participate in the upcoming playoffs, but the top eight teams will be. Furthermore, the seventh and eighth place teams, the Thieves and Mutineers, will be starting in the bottom bracket. 

Everyone else will be in the top bracket, with the top two teams of Atlanta and Toronto having a one-round bye each to ensure that they only have a few wins between them and the championship prize. Before we get to the playoffs, though, here is what you need to know about the Stage 5 Major results. 

For starters, we have day one of the four-day, jam-packed Major tournament. The event kicked off at LAN on the first day with the elimination bracket match of the Seattle Surge against the Paris Legion for the right to stay in the game. 

The Seattle Surge came in and did what we expected them to in this match, dominating for the most part and showing that they are a great team when LAN play is involved. Octane, Prestinni, Gunless, and Classic showed up in full force with an unsurprising start to the Major with a three-to-one win. This resulted in the Paris Legion being eliminated and thus ending their CDL 2021 season as their final match.  

The next elimination match was the Los Angeles Guerrillas taking on the New York Subliners. It was a match that the Subliners knew they had to win if they had any hope of getting prize money or showing that they have a right to be in the conversation still for the championship. 

What was both surprising and unfortunate was that the Guerrillas gave it their all for once with this current roster and tried to take down Subliners in a rather close match. Fortunately, the Subliners showed that they are still in the mix with a close three to two finish to end the season for the Guerrillas. 

Then we headed on over to the winners bracket for the first set of matches and the beginning of the insanity that would ensue for the four days. We kicked off here with the Minnesota Rokkr taking on the Atlanta FaZe.

I noted that I think FaZe would win in my predictions, but this would be the best time for Rokkr to get an upset against Atlanta, if possible, and they delivered. Not only did Rokkr win this match, but they did so dominantly in a three-to-one win, something that no other team can claim this season. 

In this crazy match, Rokkr finally started to fulfill the roster’s promise with the inclusion of two former FaZe players on it. Priestahh and MajorManiak potentially finally got their revenge for being dropped (or voluntarily leaving; it is still unknown) from Atlanta last year. 

For the first time, Atlanta was moved to the bottom bracket this early in the tournament. It was followed by a very close and fun match of the day with the LA Thieves taking on the Toronto Ultra. The Thieves shined here, almost kicking the other top two teams to the bottom bracket but losing in the end barely to Ultra. This put LA in the elimination bracket. 

Day two kicked off with even more matches, beginning once more in the bottom bracket with Seattle Surge taking on the team with a one-round bye: London Royal Ravens. As expected, Seattle would come out on top of this match to guarantee some cash in the tournament, but they did it much more dominantly than we expected, with a quick three-to-nothing finish. 

That ended the season for London as we moved to the next elimination match of New York Subliners and Florida Mutineers. One of the very few riskier matches that I got right was an extremely close match, but the Subliners came through for a much-needed win to prove that they still mean business and eliminate Florida. 

From there, we came to the second round of the winners bracket with the Dallas Empire and Minnesota Rokkr. It was an unexpected matchup that I did not foresee coming this early, but Rokkr proved once more that they are a weakness for Dallas, winning this fairly easily three to one to somehow make it to the winners finals. 

From there, we ended the day with a phenomenal match of Toronto Ultra and OpTic Chicago. OpTic gave it their all and looked fantastic in this match, but they, too, were unable to finish off Toronto in the end and lost the very close bout three to two, which put Toronto in the winners finals and Chicago in the bottom bracket. 

Heading into day three, we had a very long set of matches and some bonkers surprises. This was the first day that fans were allowed at the event. The return of the community to LAN events was felt, with teams rising and falling because of the powerful cheers in the crowd.

The matches began with the New York Subliners taking on the LA Thieves in a rematch of the tragic and close Stage 5 group play match. It seemed close at times, but the Thieves could close it out and win this one three to one to eliminate the Subliners. I hoped this would go the way of New York in the end. 

This was immediately followed up with a crazy match of the Seattle Surge and Atlanta FaZe. I’m not sure many people would have even guessed that these two teams would meet up in the Stage 5 Major, let alone what the match results would be. 

The crowd was most definitely on the underdog’s side, or should we say clearly against Atlanta, as the fans at the venue supported every kill and round win from Seattle. It is unknown if this affected the results of this match, but the Surge went against all odds to win in the final game of the match to take down the kings of Search & Destroy. 

For the first time this year, Atlanta not only was not in the grand finals of a Major but they were swiftly eliminated from the event without a single win there. Prestinni was able to show his brother, Arcitys, up in a finish that has us now wishing we could see more of Surge at LAN at the playoffs, but that tragically will not happen. 

Next up on day three, we had the next elimination match of Dallas Empire and the LA Thieves. I did not expect much from the Thieves here. That was proven with the Empire taking them down relatively easily three rounds to one, likely empowered by having the home-field advantage, too. 

The final elimination match of the day was OpTic Chicago versus Seattle Surge of all teams. The crowd was all OpTic all the time here, but you have to give props to Seattle for giving it their all once more. They almost eliminated OpTic, too, but were defeated in one of the closest matches of the event three to two. 

The day’s final match was the marquee winners finals with the expected Toronto Ultra and the extremely unexpected Minnesota Rokkr. The Rokkr continued their fantastic run through this event, making this one of the fastest matches of the tournament, not even giving Toronto room to breathe in this quick three-to-nothing finish. This earned Minnesota their first grand finals placement this year. 

With day four starting, only four teams left: Dallas Empire, OpTic Chicago, Minnesota Rokkr, and Toronto Ultra. The day kicked off with the long-time rivalry match of OpTic and Empire to finally determine which is the better of the two teams. 

OpTic came in and showed their strength to be the better squad ultimately and won this match three to one to eliminate Dallas and finally return to being the third-best team in the league. This was followed by the elimination finals of OpTic and Toronto. 

The crowd was definitely against Toronto in this match, but Ultra did not let this weigh them down, and they were able to win in the end three to one to eliminate Chicago and make it to the grand finals. This left us with one final match of the event: Minnesota versus Toronto again. 

Would Rokkr dominate again and win this easily, or would the weight of nine possible rounds end their stellar run at the Major? That is something that quickly seemed to be answered as we started the first Hardpoint round. Before I spoil this entire match, I highly recommend watching it on YouTube. 

This was not only the best match of the entire 2021 season but better than anything we had in 2020, either. It is one of the finest Call of Duty competitive matches ever and a must-watch for fans, no matter if you like these teams or not. 

With that out of the way, this match had an unfortunate start for Rokkr. They were quickly destroyed in Hardpoint in one of the worst we’ve seen this year, 250 to 34. Then in SnD, they were destroyed again six rounds to one. 

It was hoped that Rokkr would make a comeback in Control, where they were dominant the night before, but, nope, they were destroyed again three to one. At this point, three rounds to nothing, it was quickly looking like the momentum for Ultra was here. They were ready to win another Major. 

We then came to the fourth round of Hardpoint once more, but this time on Raid. Here, Rokkr finally began to show some signs of life, making this a much closer affair, but it still went the way of Toronto. This led us to Miami SnD for possibly the final round of the match without a single Rokkr win.

If I had to guess here, I would have said Rokkr might get this round and maybe another one but lose in the end. Minnesota finally fought back here, showing they are one of the best Miami teams in the business to get a much-needed win six to three to make this a four to one match. 

Then we came back to Control for the last one of this match, and Minnesota won Garrison against Toronto to now have two rounds. From there, we came to the first of two make-it-or-break-it moments for Rokkr. Standoff was not their preferred SnD map, so this is where I thought they might lose it. 

But, nope, they continued their return of force to win this one easily six rounds to two. Then we came to the final Hardpoint on Apocalypse, which was the final X factor of the match. It was now four rounds to three, with a real possibility now that Rokkr could make a comeback. 

At this point in time watching this, I knew that if Minnesota won this round, they would clinch the match, but they could very well lose this Hardpoint, too. In the end, Minnesota could win this Hardpoint 250 to 165 to somehow reverse tie up the match four to four. 

This brought us to the final round of SnD on Raid, a map that Minnesota has proven to be great at. It was here that none of us knew what we were getting into with a match that seemed impossible for Rokkr to win after four straight losses, but here we were. 

The crowd was definitely on Rokkr’s side at this point as we headed into a Search and Destroy round that will go down in history. It was not that close in the end, but the importance of it was felt. Rokkr won this round six to three to close out the Major and win an upset that is perhaps the greatest comeback, upset, and reverse sweep in Call of Duty history. 

With the Minnesota Rokkr Stage 5 Major win, it was honestly heartbreaking to watch Toronto’s devastated reactions. As a Rokkr fan, I am so proud of this team for finally fulfilling my predictions for them. But, at the same time, I would encourage fans not to give Toronto a bad rep for what happened here. They are still a phenomenal team and a possible champion contender, but, man, am I proud of Attach, Priestahh, Major, and Standy for this Minnesota Rokkr Stage 5 Major win.