- The Call of Duty League starts 2022 with an unofficial tournament
- The single-elimination tournament will feature 12 teams competing for a grand prize of $30 000
- Viewers are in for some potentially riveting matches
The Kickoff Classic tournament starts next weekend and the brackets for the 12-team competition have just been announced. Competitive Vanguard is also about to begin.
The Kickoff Classic Is Starting Soon
Three months after its release, CoD: Vanguard will finally have its first large tournament. The Call of Duty Kickoff Classic will be starting next weekend. It’s an unofficial tournament without CDL Points but the winner still gets $30 000. Although the tournament isn’t an official part of the 2022 CDL regular season, it’s going to be played at the Esports Stadium Arlington in Texas. The League recently posted information about the brackets.
The 2022 Kickoff Classic will be single-elimination and feature all 12 teams in the Call of Duty League. Many think this is going to be the only time that all 12 teams will be playing LAN together. Initially, the CDL revealed an 8-team format, which allows only eight teams to compete for each Major, all of which on LAN. This spurred protest from both organizations and fans, and according to recent rumors, the CDL might return to hosting 12 teams per Major. This will have every team in the league compete for every stage’s major championship.
What Viewers Might Expect to See?
The bracket is seeded by where each team finished in the CDL Champs standings from last season. What this means is that Atlanta FaZe, Minnesota RØKKR, OpTic Texas, and Toronto Ultra, who are the top four teams from last year’s CDL Championship, will go up against the winners from the matches from the first rounds.
The other teams will have to play in the first round against one another for the right to make it into the second round. Viewers might find some matches particularly interesting, like that between the New York Subliners taking on the currently unnamed team from Boston. The latter took the Chicago spot previously owned by OpTic and Envy after the two organizations merged in November.
There could also be a riveting rematch between Seattle Surge and Atlanta FaZe if Seattle triumphs over London in Round 1. The last time the two faced off, Surge pulled off one of the best upsets in COD history.
The semifinals could see a confrontation between Atlanta and New York or Minnesota, plus OpTic vs. Toronto. All of these teams are considered to field top-notch rosters. With so many potentially fascinating matches on the line, viewers may tune into the CDL’s YouTube page to watch streams, which begin next Friday, January 21.
