Grading Boston's 2024 Season
With the Modern Warfare 3 regular now complete, it's time to look back through each of the Majors & qualifiers.
We’re going to break down and grade each team that failed to qualify for Champs based on each team's performance based on its expectations.
Season Expectations
The Boston Breach came into the season with expectations to be a better team in their third season in the Call of Duty League.
In the offseason leading up to the year, they made big veteran signings of Austin “SlasheR” Liddicoat & Preston “Priestahh” Greiner. They paired the AR duo with younger, high-potential SMGs in Kenyen “Capsidal” Sutton & Eric “Snoopy” Pérez to complete the starting lineup. There were rumors that Boston heavily pitched Dylan “Envoy” Hannon to join the squad, but he ended up joining the Toronto Ultra.
Photo by @MediabyIsiah
While the team had a blend of veteran experience & talent, they landed in the 10th position in the preseason Coaches Poll heading into the year. The team climbed to 8th in the January 11th edition of the Coaches Poll after the first two weeks of play but then proceeded only to fall.
This cemented their expectations to be a team fighting for the last position to qualify for Champs but with slim odds. Would they be able to overcome the odds?
The Results
12th Seed: 60 CDL Points, 6-27 Series Record (18.2%), 47-87 Map Count (35.1%)
Major I Quals: 10th Seed, 2-5 Record
Major I: Top 12th Finish, 0-1 Record
Major II Quals: 7th Seed, 3-4 Record
Major II: Top 12th Finish, 0-2 Record
Major III Quals: 12th Seed, 0-7 Record
Major III: Top 12th Finish, 0-1 Record
Major IV Quals: 11th Seed, 1-6 Record
Major IV: Top 12th Finish, 0-1 Record
Boston became the first team in the history of the CDL to fail to win a series on LAN. They finished in last at each of the four Majors, with a combined 0-5 series record.
Online, they had slight success early but failed in the second half of the season. They were 5-9 over the first two qualifiers & earned an upper-bracket start for Major II.
Due to the absolute failure each time on LAN, the franchise only compiled 60 CDL points on the season, one of the lowest totals in CDL history. They ended the season in the basement of the standings, holding onto hopes given in multiple game 5 losses. Breach would fail to qualify for Champs, finishing 125 points below the 8th-place Miami Heretics.
Roster Performance
The Breach had a CDL-high 9 players start a match this season. Four of the players only lasted a single stage, while Seany stepped in to play while Beans dealt with an injury.
Beans was the only player on the squad to finish with a positive KD on the season (1.01). He was the highlight individually, having the 2nd highest damage per 10 minutes in both Hardpoint (4681) and Control (4273).
Photo by @MediabyIsiah
SlasheR was the best player on LAN, having the 7th-highest LAN KD in the League at 1.12. While he only played during the first two Stages, SlasheR ended with a 1.27 KD in Hardpoint & 1.23 KD in SND.
The starting SMG duo (Snoopy & Capsidal) had average to better-than-average stats on the year. Capsidal only played during Stage 1, but he had a 1.08 SND KD with 0.82 kills per round while adding 19.0 kills per 10 minutes in Control. Snoopy had flashes but didn’t have the peaks expected. The rookie ended with a 1.08 KD in SND with a team-high 79.3 Slayer Rating.
The rest of the players had good moments but struggled for stretches. Priestahh played very well in Control on the AR, but couldn’t piece it all together when moved to the SMG. Pentagrxm struggled badly in Hardpoint & SND but did have a statement map in Control, going 32-13 (2.46 KD) against LA Thieves. Seany didn’t have the best individual numbers, but the team looked better with him on the map. MajorManiak got dealt a hard hand, coming in just for Stage 4 when the Champs dream was already extinguished. Asim played only in Stage 2 for the Breach, ending with a 0.92 overall KD while having a 0.84 in SND & 0.87 in Control. It’s hard to judge any player too harshly in a team that was struggling to perform all year long.
The Grade
F
The faults came due to poor roster maneuvers that hurt their position each time.
Moving off of Capsidal in favor of Asim worked in the qualifiers, but the team needed help to unlock its full potential at the Major. Moving off of Capsidal led to a season-long battle to find an SMG to pair with Snoopy. Pentagrxm looked overwhelmed, Asim didn’t have the slaying, & moving Priestahh from AR to SMG in the final stage would always be an impossible battle to win.
Photo by @MediabyIsiah
Signing Beans to the starting group was an excellent decision, but to do that in place of SlasheR stripped the team of its fundamentals & of a player who performed on LAN. Priestahh performed in respawns but his SND play was a glaring weakness. When he moved to SMG, MajorManiak could not perform on the roster, whether that was due to the team’s confidence being at an all-time low or just not clicking with his new teammates.
Overall, this team was expected to compete to qualify for champs. Instead, they set the record for failing to win a series on LAN & finished with 60 CDL points. Due to these failures throughout the season, the Breach ended with a D- grade for the Modern Warfare 3 regular season.
