New Call of Duty League format and Warzone tournament announced - Dexerto
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New Call of Duty League format and Warzone tournament announced

Published: 19/May/2020 17:00

by Calum Patterson
Activision

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Call of Duty League

The Call of Duty League has announced some significant changes to the format of the remaining events in the 2020 season, as well as a new Warzone tournament, and in-game rewards for watching matches.

Like almost all esports events, the inaugural season of the CDL has suffered some setbacks due to the ongoing global crisis. Home Series events have been forced to move online, which throws up its own problems for server connections and broadcasting the matches.

After three online tournaments, the CDL has announced some big changes for future events. Perhaps most importantly is the fact that all twelve league teams will now compete at the Call of Duty League Championship.

Chicago Huntsmen's FormaL.
Activision
The curtain closer of the season will now welcome all 12 teams, for a jam-packed weekend of Call of Duty action.

CDL Championship changes

The Call of Duty League Championship, the final event of the season, will now feature all 12 teams, rather than only the top eight. League standings will determine each team’s starting position at this final event in August.

1st and 2nd placed teams in the CDL Standings will automatically skip the first two rounds of the event’s Winner’s Bracket, and the event will be played in a double-elimination format.

CDL Warzone Weekends

Warzone, the battle royale mode in Modern Warfare, is one of the most popular games in the world currently, and the CDL will now be incorporating it into their competitive tournaments.

Starting with CDL Seattle (May 22-24), all twelve teams will be dropping into a 48-player Quads match of Warzone. The winning team will even net themselves a cool $10,000.

The tournament will be live-to-tape and shown before the final matches start at CDL Seattle on Sunday, May 24.

Players aiming in Warzone.
Activision
Who will win the CDL’s first match-up in Verdansk?

In-game rewards for watching CDL

Activision are finally giving viewers what they’ve been longing for on the YouTube-exclusive broadcasts: in-game rewards. For watching CDL action, Modern Warfare players will be able to earn exclusive CDL team-themed Emblems, Sprays, Animated Calling Cards and more.

This has been a highly requested feature from the community for a long time, and will hopefully encourage more casual fans to check out the streams, too.

But, it’s not been announced when exactly this will be starting, or how exactly players will earn the rewards. More details should be coming soon.

ATL Faze team bundle in Modern Warfare.
Activision
Even more in-game items are set to join the plethora of CDL cosmetics already available in Modern Warfare.

CDL Bracket Challenge

For an added bit of fun while watching the tournament, the new bracket challenge will allow you to predict the winners of each match-up over the weekend. Keep an eye on the official Call of Duty League website for when the draft goes live!

Next up is CDL Seattle. You can find the full schedule and streams for the event here.

Call of Duty

Team Tommey wins $20K Totino’s Black Ops Brawl tourney: Final results

Published: 25/Nov/2020 1:25 Updated: 25/Nov/2020 1:36

by Jacob Hale
Totinos Black Ops Brawl with Minnesota ROKKR
Activision/Totino's

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Black Ops Cold War Minnesota ROKKR

Totino’s was the latest to host a massive esports event with $20,000 on the line in one of the first proper  Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War tournaments, one that featured top pro players and some of the most popular streamers.

Over the years, we’ve seen the frozen pizza brand host tournaments in multiple games as well as form sponsorships with the likes of 100 Thieves, who recently entered the Call of Duty League with the LA Thieves.

Now, with Black Ops Cold War out and players starting to really get to grips with the game, they teamed up with a number of top names in Call of Duty, including the Minnesota RØKKR CDL team, to put on a show for fans. Here’s everything you need to catch up on the event.

Totino’s Black Ops Brawl recap

With a single-elimination bracket, teams only had one life to prove themselves with. As a result, four teams were immediately knocked out from the first round with no chance at redemption. Nameless, Swagg, Hitch, and Symfuhny all crashed out of the competition early on with their teams taken down right away.

While Tommey’s team advanced through to the grand final, they met a dominant force in the last series of the day. TeeP and his stacked squad refused to drop a map throughout the day. They came away with 3-0 wins over Symfuhny and Crowder to land in the finals.

The opening Hardpoint on Moscow came down to the wire with TeeP’s team narrowly edging it out. However, the next SnD on Miami was the polar opposite. Tommey’s team struck back with an insane 6-0 performance to tie things up. From here on out, their team kept the momentum rolling and closed out the grand final victory.

Totino’s Black Ops Brawl results

Black Ops Brawl event
Totinos
The final bracket for Totino’s Black Ops Brawl.

Totino’s Black Ops Brawl stream & schedule

The Totino’s Black Ops Brawl was a four-hour event that took place on Tuesday, November 24.

The show kicked off at 3pm ET (12pm PT/8pm GMT) live from Totino’s Twitch channel, which we’ve embedded here for you to easily rewatch.

It was hosted by Call of Duty League casters Joe ‘Merk’ Deluca and Clint ‘Maven’ Evans, with $20,000 on the line for competing teams.

Who played in the Black Ops Brawl event?

From the most accomplished pro players to the most popular streamers, plenty of big names got involved in this $20k competition. If you’ve been following Cold War events since launch, all of the familiar faces turned out for this one as well. Simp, Tommey, Shotzzy, and Symfuhny were just a handful of names that got involved. Below is a full overview of the captains for the Black Ops Brawl tournament.

  • Symfuhny
  • Swagg
  • Tommey
  • Censor
  • Crowder
  • Hitch
  • Nameless
  • TeePee
Totino's Black Ops Brawl casters Merk and Maven
Totino's
Merk and Maven hosted the Black Ops Brawl.

Format and prize pool

Eight teams were lined up for the start of the event as the single-elimination bracket got underway. One series loss was all anyone could afford. In total, the winning team had to get through three consecutive best of three matchups against the top challengers.

As for the prize pool, there was $20,000 on the line, with $15,000 going directly to the winning team and the remaining $5,000 going to the team that finished in second place.