Though the Atlanta FaZe received their 2021 Call of Duty League championship rings before their matchup with the Seattle Surge today, Seattle had no problem playing spoiler with a 3-1 victory at the 2022 CDL Kickoff Classic.

After disappointing 2020 and 2021 seasons, Seattle cleaned house and brought in head coach Fenix alongside Accuracy, Mack, Sib, and Pred. The moves are already paying dividends before the 2022 season officially starts. Pred, who found himself playing on LAN and in front of a crowd for the first time, played exceptionally well.

Pred had his coming-out party during Gavutu Control, with the series tied at one map apiece. He went 31-19 with more than 3,300 damage in a 3-0 map win and followed those numbers up with a 32-25 statline on Tuscan Hardpoint, helping Seattle secure a 250-196 win in the decisive map four.

“This wasn’t something that we weren’t expecting. It’s not like a big surprise,” Pred said after the match. “We come into this, we treat everyone the same, we just do our stuff, and it all pays off.”

After losing the first map 250-150 on Bocage Hardpoint, Seattle impressed with their clutch moments throughout the series. In Search and Destroy on Tuscan, Sib and Pred faced a two-vs-three in the decisive round 11. Defending the bomb, Sib picked off Cellium and Simp before facing a one-vs-one with Arcitys. Arcitys made a play on the bomb before Sib slid in to get the kill and close out the map. Pred gave a lot of credit to his coaching staff, especially Fenix.

“He will always calm us down. That’s the main thing about him,”Pred said of the rookie head coach. “He’s the most supportive person I know.”

While this was an extremely impressive performance from Seattle, it’s hard to think that Atlanta are anything but the favorites heading into the regular season. They won three of the five regular-season Majors last season, as well as the CDL Championship. Still, it’s rare to see superstar Simp with a series K/D under 1.00, let alone a 0.82. With the loss, Atlanta have been eliminated from the tournament.

Seattle have been getting a lot of hype during the preseason and have performed well during scrims leading into the season. This outcome solidifies their standing as a top-tier team in the CDL. The rookie duo of Sib and Pred has lived up to the hype so far and veterans Mack and Accuracy look to be playing at a high level as well.

Seattle will face the winner of the New York Subliners vs. Minnesota RØKKR tomorrow at 3pm CT.