The Call of Duty League is looking to take over the esports world during its inaugural season.
January 9, 2020
It is a brand new year, and you what that means! A new season of professional Call of Duty will be taking place where an array of talented players will be competing in this year’s entry in the legendary franchise of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. However, the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare season will be the first competitive period in the history of Call of Duty esports that will see the new Call of Duty League (CDL) in action. Transferring the city-based franchise format of the Overwatch League to the world of Call of Duty, Activision Blizzard is ready to once again shake up the esports industry in a massive way.
With the CDL set to kick off later this month, we decided to round up all of the juicy details anyone should know if they want to follow along with what will be the most critical year for Call of Duty esports in history. So grab your favorite loadout and call in your airstrike because we are about to dive headfirst into everything you need to know about the first season of the Call of Duty League.
Teams
The first year of the CDL will see a total of 12 teams competing to secure the title of champions at the end of the season. These 12 franchises will be representing cities and regions from across North America and Europe in all of the adrenaline-fueled esports action the CDL promises to deliver this year. Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Florida, London, Los Angeles, Minnesota, New York, Paris, Seattle, and Toronto are the locations that will be the homes of the league’s teams in 2020.
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You can find the complete rosters for each of the 12 CDL teams below:
Atlanta FaZe
- Tyler “aBeZy” Pharris
- McArthur “Cellium” Jovel
- Thomas “GRVTY” Malin
- Juan Antonio “JurNii” Gonzalez Munoz
- Michael “MajorManiak” Symaniak
- Preston “Preistahh” Greiner
- Chris “Simp” Lehr
Chicago Huntsmen
- Alec “Arcitys” Sanderson
- Seth “Scump” Abner
- Matthew “Formal” Piper
- Dylan “Envoy” Hannon
- Pierce “Gunless” Hillman
- Jordan “General” General
- Marcus “MBoZe” Blanks
Dallas Empire
- James “Clayster” Eubanks
- Anthony “Shotzzy” Cuevas-Castro
- Cuyler “Huke” Garland
- Indervir “iLLeY” Dhaliwal
- Ian “Crimsix” Porter
- Thomas “Tommy” Trewen
- Paul “Tisch” Tischler
Florida Mutineers
- Preston “Prestinni” Sanderson
- Bradley “Frosty” Bergstrom
- Cesar “Skyz” Bueno
- Colt “Havok” McLendon
- Chance “Maux” Moncivaez
- Nick “MaNiac” Kershner
London Royal Ravens
- Bradley “Wuskin” Marshall
- Matthew “Skrapz” Marshall
- Dylan “Dylan” Henderson
- Jordan “Jurd” Crowley
- Rhys “Rated” Price
- Sean “Seany” O’Connor
- Dylan “MadCat” Daly
Los Angeles Guerrillas
- Patrick “ACHES” Price
- Ulysses “AquA” Silva
- Jacob “Decemate” Cato
- Renato “Saints” Forza
- Andres “Lacefield” Lacefield
- Rasim “Blazt” Orgesevic
Minnesota Rokkr
- Adam “Assault” Garcia
- Adam “GodRx” Brown
- Justin “SiLLY” Fargo-Palmer
- Alex “Alexx” Carpenter
- Obaid “Asim” Asim
- Kaden “Exceed” Stockdale
- Devin “TTinyy” Robinson
New York Subliners
- Thomas “ZooMaa” Paparatto
- Donovan “Temp” Laroda
- Lamar “Accuracy” Abedi
- Trei “Zer0” Morris
- Dillon “Attach” Price
- Doug “Censor” Martin
- Nick “Happy” Suda
Optic Gaming Los Angeles
- Thomas “TJHaly” Haly
- Brandon “Dashy” Otell
- Kenny “Kenny” Williams
- Austin “SlasheR” Liddicoat
- Jordan “JKap” Kaplan
- Martin “Chino” Chino
- Jevon “Goonjar” Gooljar-Lim
Paris Legion
- Luke “Louqa” Rigas
- Conrad “Shockz” Rymarek
- Denholm “Denz” Taylor
- Matthew “KiSMET” Tinsley
- Timothy “Phantomz” Landis
- Zach “Zed” Denyer
- Paul “Breszy” Breszynski
Seattle Surge
- Damon “Karma” Barlow
- Ian “Enable” Wyatt
- Sam “Octane” Larew
- Josiah “Slacked” Berry
- Bryan “Apathy” Zhelyazkov
- Casey “Pandur” Romano
- Nicholas “Proto” Maldonado
Toronto Ultra
- Daniel “Loony” Loza
- Anthony “Methodz” Zinni
- Carson “Brack” Newberry
- Alejandro “Lucky” Lopez
- Adrian “MeTTalZ” Serrano
- Tobias “CleanX” Juul Jonsson
- Nicholas “Classic” DiCostanzo
- Cameron “Cammy” McKilligan
- Ben “Bance” Bance
- Mehran “Mayhem” Anjomshoa
Format
The world of Call of Duty esports has gone through some significant changes throughout its history. Early days saw the majority of competition take place within the confines of tournaments that would play out throughout a life cycle for an entry in the franchise highlighted by the Call of Duty Championship. Fast Forward to Call of Duty: Black Ops III with the creation of the Call of Duty World League (CWL), where qualified teams would compete in what was known as a Pro League. Teams competed in weekly matches that ended in playoffs where a Pro League champion was crowned. Various CWL tournaments would also take place during the year in addition to the Pro League, which all ultimately lead to the Call of Duty Championship.
Now, the CDL will be introducing a completely new format when it comes to how fans see their favorite teams compete. At first, the CDL was planning on having each of the 12 franchise teams host events in their regions where teams would compete in regular-season matches that would ultimately decide who made the playoffs and have a chance to compete for the CDL Championship. However, the CDL has since decided to change the format of the 2020 season to where each of the Home Series Weekend events will be their own tournaments. Eight teams will compete at each of these tournaments in two groups of four. The four teams who can win two matches in their groups will move on to a single-elimination bracket where that particular Home Series Weekend’s champion will be decided. However, this tournament format will not take effect until the London Royal Ravens host their Home Series Weekend. The league’s opening weekend event hosted by the Minnesota Rokkr will see all 12 teams play two matches each.
Teams will earn 10 CDL points for each win they secure with an additional 10 points being awarded to the winner of each Home Series Weekend event. Point distribution for each tournament weekend will then be spread out in the following manner:
- 1st Place – 50 CDL Points
- 2nd Place – 30 CDL Points
- 3rd/4th Place – 20 CDL Points
- 5th/6th Place – 10 CDL Points
- 7th/8th Place – 0 CDL Points
The eight teams with the most CDL points accumulated during the regular season will then move on to compete in the playoffs. A single-elimination tournament will be played between the remaining four wild-card teams with the top two advancing to the playoffs where the very first Call of Duty League Champion will be crowned. The two teams that advance from the wild-card tournament will face off against the third and fourth overall seeds to kick off a double-elimination bracket. Both of the top two seeds will receive first-round byes.
That is not all, however. Each team will also host a Challengers tournament at their Home Series Weekend events. Call of Duty League Challengers is the official path to pro system for the CDL where up and coming talent will be able to show off their skills in the home markets of the league’s franchises and possibly pave a path for themselves to become a professional player. Each Challengers tournament will be a 10K series event, have a bracket of 32 to 64 teams, and will have a minimum prize pool of $10,000.
Schedule
Call of Duty fans who love to see as much high-octane action as possible will not be disappointed with the schedule for the 2020 CDL season. A total of 15 events will be taking place across the world throughout the season, where there will be plenty on the line every weekend CDL action takes place. With only the top eight teams when it comes to total CDL points making the playoffs at the end of the season, fans can expect to see every team fight with everything they have to secure as many points they can at each of the Home Series Weekend events they compete at in 2020.
You can find the current schedule for the inaugural season of the CDL below:
Minnesota
January 24 – January 26
London
February 8 – February 9
Atlanta
February 22 – February 23
Los Angeles
March 7 – March 8
Dallas
March 28 – March 29
Chicago
April 4 – April 5
Florida
April 11 – April 12
Seattle
April 18 – April 19
Minnesota
May 9 – May 10
Paris
May 16 – May 17
New York
June 6 – June 7
All-Star Weekend
TBA
London
June 20 – June 21
Toronto
June 27 – June 28
Championship Weekend
TBA
2020 will be the year that the Call of Duty League stunningly makes its debut and has the chance of establishing itself as the future of esports with its franchising system. There is no doubt that there will be a plethora of cheers echoing throughout the world for the 12 franchises that will be battling it out for the right to call themselves the very first Call of Duty League Champions.
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