It's not been a great week for the Call of Duty League, as the Major III qualification stages brought along a range of controversies. With teams jostling for all-important seedings ahead of the third Major tournament of the year, the final week of qualifiers saw the heat cranked to the maximum, and it's evident that the League wasn't prepared for what was to unfold.

The Toronto Major is snowballing to be one of the most impactful events of the year, amid a rush to solidify crucial CDL points that will be useful for the World Championships qualification. Only eight teams will play at the final event, meaning four miss out, and the teams marooned to the bottom half of the standings are now getting squeaky bums to find crucial points. 

Boston Breach might already be safe, having accrued a 40 point gap over the drop-zone, but Florida Mutineers are stuck to joint-ninth, putting them in trouble, especially as New York Subliners have remodelled their abysmal starting roster to become quite the force in Stage 3. So, as Florida and Boston collided in a pivotal match (a win for Florida would force a tie-break for a top-eight Major seeding worth 10 points), a huge call was made from the League officials when a PC crash resulted in a restart.

Florida Mutineers Gifted With Advantage Over Boston Breach In Gobsmacking CDL Ruling

The first four maps went in a pendulum-styled swing, where Boston Breach's Hardpoint collapse gave Florida an early 1-0 lead before Boston notched up back-to-back Control and Search and Destroy rounds to take the lead. Another Hardpoint win for Florida levelled the scores 2-2 going into the final match, to which no surprise, it was all square at five rounds each, making it a straight one-round shoot-out for a win. 

However, PC crashes to Boston pairing Kenyen "Capsidal" Sutton and Thomas "TJHaly" Haly - who had a full set of killstreaks saved since the sixth round - meant that the game had to be fully restarted. Vanguard's appalling lack of an in-game pause feature has been hotly contested in the past, and its omission here resulted in the officials ruling that TJHaly must restart without his killstreaks, which would likely have proved pivotal. 

In typical fashion, the streakless Boston was breached, as Florida Mutineers took over the A bombsite to prevail, and set up a tie-breaker with LA Thieves.

Call Of Duty Community Furious With Boston Vs Florida Ruling

"That might be the biggest joke I’ve seen in competitive COD history," said OpTic Content Creator Davis "Hitchariide" Edwards, after the final round concluded. The sentiment was echoed by Boston Breach player Anthony "Zinni" Methodz who summed up his feelings in a tweet. 

"Lol I actually can’t believe this s**t," added TJHaly, as Boston Breach missed out on a top-eight seeding for the Toronto Major. 

The lack of a pause feature has since been discussed again, especially with the likes of VALORANT, a game in its infancy, joining CS:GO, League of Legends, and other esports titles that all have such a system in place.

Florida will now face OpTic Texas in the Winners Bracket at the Major, with the cushion of the Losers bracket as a lifeline. For Boston, they will now need to be flawless for as long as possible, as they face the Losers Bracket run which will start with either LA Thieves or an undefeated Minnesota ROKKR.