The CDL Kickoff Classic Preview, from a Casual Fan
Image Source: CDL. The Kickoff Classic will take place at The Esports Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
The highest level of Call of Duty Vanguard will be shown for the first time in front of fans in Arlington, Texas. I’ll be one of those fans in attendance, and I’m very excited to see old friends and to make new ones.
However, while Call of Duty was in my wheelhouse in middle and high school, since going into college, it’s taken a backseat to Overwatch, Quake, Apex Legends, Halo, CS:GO, and Valorant. Covering and playing these games in a four year span while only touching COD every so often has relegated me to becoming a casual fan of the game. I’ve watched most of the CWL and CDL in those four years, so I know the game enough to boast some knowledge, but not the top-tier knowledge of even Contenders players or my colleagues in the industry. So, this article is for everyone who casually watches Call of Duty esports, and I’m not trying to say that I’m an expert in the scene.
To put it bluntly, I’m an idiot.
Without further ado, let’s start from the top of the CDL, and let’s work our way down.
Atlanta FaZe
Atlanta Faze won the 2021 CDL season with a 5-3 victory over Toronto. Image Source: CDL
The Title-winning team stayed together for the upcoming season, with the only roster change coming in a trade with the Seattle Surge, with Sib leaving and Prestinni reuniting with his brother in Atlanta.
4/5 of the 2019 eUnited CWL players make up FaZe, with the only exception being Clayster, who plays for the Subliners. The depth is insane, and the team has had the most success in the CDL, with a 2nd Place finish in 2020 and winning the regular season in ‘20 and ‘21. Fans are expecting them to run it back in Vanguard, and if they don’t, that will speak volumes about how this roster performs. As the undisputed “greatest Call of Duty Roster of all time”, expectations are high.
They play the winner of Seattle vs London on the 22nd.
Toronto Ultra
Toronto Ultra is looking to avenge their runner-up season with a solid roster. Image Source: Toronto Ultra
Toronto was a surprise to many last season. After resetting their roster from Season 1, the squad fought through the regular season and Champs, claiming 2nd Place in the 2021 Season. Outside of the Stage 1 Major, they never placed lower than 3rd, and won the Stage 2 Major over the Atlanta FaZe.
Ultra didn’t do many changes either in the offseason, with Hicksey joining as a substitute, and former sub Methodz leaving to join the expansion Boston Breach.
The mood up north is optimistic, and their preseason #2 ranking has many fans excited.
They play the winner of Mutineers/Guerrillas on the 22nd.
OpTic Texas
OpTic Texas marries the best of Chicago and the Empire. Image Source: OpTic Texas/Envy Gaming
As soon as Hector got his hands back on OpTic, he found a way to make the brand stick out: an unlikely marriage with Envy Gaming. If you told someone five years ago that the eClassico rivals would be a part of the same organization, they’d probably laugh you out of the building. But, with Infinite’s collapse, OpTic being bought by Immortals, Hector creating the Huntsman with NRG and getting back the OpTic name, this move is just another crazy turn in the esports industry, especially with OpTic moving around every year. Hopefully, with this deal, they’ll permanently set up shop in DFW.
Honestly, in my opinion, this move makes total sense for both Envy and OpTic. Envy now has access to better content that OpTic brings to the table, and OpTic has more freedom to pursue more rosters other than Call of Duty, with Envy’s Halo roster moving over to the OpTic Brand in November 2021. The only casualties? NRG no longer being involved with the CDL, the roster slot being sold to Oxygen Gaming and Kraft Sports and Entertainment to form the Boston Breach, and most of all, the death of the Empire branding, which IMO was the best branding in the CDL, if not all of esports.
But that’s what money does. It talks louder than good looks.
After OpTic Chicago released Envoy and General, alongside Formal, who retired to focus on Halo and streaming, and after the Empire dropped FeLo and Crimsix, reports showed the marriage would bring the four active players together on one roster. Dashy, iLLeY, Scump, and Shotzzy look powerful on paper, and if CDL scrims have anything to add to the discussion, the roster looks strong.
Scrimbucks can only get you so far though.
Envoy, who ultimately saved the OpTic brand in Season 1, signed to the Thieves of Los Angeles (The Los Angeles Thieves, sorry for the LA Angels of Anaheim vibes). Crimsix left to team back up with Clayster on the New York Subliners. FeLo will suit up for Paris this season. And General will likely either retire, join a Contenders team, or come back on as a sub for OpTic Texas. (It’s not clear at the moment)
With Envy’s event hosting expertise and operating ownership of The Esports Arena, and OpTic’s content and name, this team is very powerful off of the server. But will they be successful on it?
OpTic Texas will premier against the winner of LA Thieves/Legion on the 22nd.
Minnesota RØKKR
Minnesota is looking to improve off an impressive 2021 Season. Image Source: Minnesota RØKKR.
Minnesota played Toronto a LOT in tournaments last season. After winning the Stage 5 finals in an impressive 5:4 reverse sweep of Toronto, they placed fourth after losing 2:3 to, well, Toronto.
The only major roster changes? Accuracy leaving for Seattle, and MajorManiak joining the starting lineup. Staff changes were a big part of the RØKKR’s offseason, with former Ultra and Surge player Loony joining as an assistant coach, Nubzy coming out of retirement to become the Team Ops Coordinator, and alexdotzip joining as a Data Analyst.
Alongside the preexisting coaching lineup, the RØKKR are looking to make a statement in the league, and possibly reach outside their Top 4 finish last season.
The RØKKR plays on the 22nd against the winner of Boston/New York.
Seattle Surge
Seattle’s new young core is looking to improve the team’s shaky start in the CDL. Image Source: CDL/Seattle Surge
The past two seasons haven’t been kind to lowly Seattle. Finishing 11th in 2020 and 9th in 2021, their attempts to #DrownThemOut haven’t worked when your tides are coming out of an inflatable pool. Despite having strong starters last season in Octane, Gunless, Classic, and Prestinni, they started from scratch, dumping their full roster in the offseason, much like how you’d weatherize a pool for the winter.
The talent on the roster didn’t go to waste, as Octane joined the LA Thieves, Gunless joining the crosstown LA Guerillas, Prestinni joining the Atlanta Faze, backing up the reigning champs as a substitute. Loony and Nubzy joined the coaching staff up north in Minnesota. Classic hasn’t found a home yet, but is currently playing in Challengers with an orgless squad of Assault, Seany, and Exceed.
This new squad consists of Head Coach Fenix, General Manager Novus, some league vets such as Accuracy, Sib, and Mack, and newcomer Pred. Accuracy played for New York and Minnesota for the first two seasons, while Sib played for Atlanta FaZe Academy and was promoted to Substitute for Atlanta last season. Mack played in New York starting in Week 7 of Season 1, after playing for Hybrid Black in Challengers. Pred has played since 2015, and was a big part of Renegade’s Back to Back APAC Challengers championships in 2020 and 2021.
Seattle wants to make waves this season with their complete roster rework. Hopefully this time, they can drown out teams better than the last two seasons.
They play the London Royal Ravens on January 21st. Speaking of the Royal Ravens…
London Royal Ravens
New Lineup, New Goals. Image Source: CDL/London Royal Ravens
After finishing 4th in the 2020 Finals, the Royal Ravens have, for a lack of a better word, collapsed. Trying to live up to other UK lineups, the Ravens have gone through 15 players since the first season of the CDL. Last season, as noted by CoD Mobile Content Creator for the Subliners @RealBobbyPlays, the Royal Ravens made only $10k in prize money from Cold War.
Yikes.
Either way, the new London roster consists of Afro, Gismo, Nastie, and Zer0.
To be brutally honest, outside of their Cinderella run in Champs 2020, London doesn’t really capture my attention. They’re under my radar completely. Only Afro returns as he played as a substitute for the Ravens in 2021. Gismo and Nastie come from The Atlas Lions, who won EU Challengers last year. Nastie played for the Ravens in Season 1. Zer0 returns to the Ravens after playing with them in Season 1, from the New York Subliners.
When you’re as bad as the Ravens, bringing on proven Challengers talent could either make you much better or much worse. The only way is up.
New York Subliners
Man, this team looks GOOD. Like, REAL GOOD. Image Source: CDL
New York, New York, it’s a wonderful town!
Finishing 5th-6th in the 2021 Finals, the Subliners rebuilt around their star AR, Clayster. Asim joined the LA Guerillas, Mack joined the Surge, and Diamondcon is a FA for the upcoming season.
The NYSL had to make a splash in Free Agency, and they did just that, adding Crimsix from the Dallas Empire. As former teammates on the Season 1 championship team, Clayster and Crim will definitely work together very well on NYSL. Adding Neptune from the Mutineers and NYSL vet HyDra from Challengers rounds out this hungry team.
With Crim returning to DFW at the Kickoff, there are sure to be quite a few fans cheering for him. But will this team perform well? Scrims go either way for the team that’s championship-caliber on paper. Only time will tell.
They’re playing the scrappy, new roster, and a geographic rival on the 21st:
Boston Breach
The Breach brings the Boston attitude to the CDL. Image Source: Boston Breach
In the fallout of OpTic Chicago’s relocation to DFW, a new slot had to be sold to the highest bidder. That slot was sold to Kraft Sports and Entertainment and Oxygen Gaming, who had secured $20 Million in investment funding and merged with KSE, and will now manage the Breach, as well as the Overwatch League’s Boston Uprising.
And lemme tell you, the branding is FANTASTIC.
Methodz comes from Toronto and WestR, alongside WestR Teammate and LA Thieves SMG TJHaly. Both players are used to the ins and outs of the CDL. Nero played for LAG Academy in Challengers and for the NYSL Mayhem in CoD Mobile. Capsidal placed 2nd in the first Challengers NA Cup in Vanguard.
No expectations, but this roster goes hard. And if Scrimbucks have any worth in the regular season, Boston is in the Top 4.
We’ll see how they fare against New York on the 21st.
Los Angeles Thieves
The Thieves are looking to run LA. Image Source: LA Thieves
Ever since 100 Thieves rejoined competitive Call of Duty, LA Thieves have become one of the fan favorite teams in the CDL. The Thieves haven’t really performed up to the 100T quality though, finishing Stage 5 in 5th-6th, and 7th-8th in Playoffs. At the end of the 2021 Season, they overhauled their lineup, with TJHaly going to Boston, Huke and SlasheR heading across the city to the Guerillas, and John heading to Paris alongside Temp. Drazah and Kenny stayed on, and were joined by solid teammates in Envoy from OpTic Chicago and Octane from Seattle.
Kenny and Octane return home, as they were teammates on 100 Thieves when they won CWL Anaheim 2019 and placed 2nd in CWL Champs. Envoy is more cracked than pepper (and is my favorite player in the league), while Drazah is super consistent.
This team looks super strong and is looking to bring LA out of the basement of the league, as OGLA/Thieves and Guerillas have placed 9th and 12th in Season 1 respectfully, and the Thieves placed as high as 2nd in Stage 1.
The Thieves play Paris on the 21st. Maybe the Thieves can get them to wake up a little.
Paris Legion
Paris prepares themselves for a new season with a new roster. Image Source: CDL
Paris didn’t tweet for 16 days, not to react to LA Thieves roasting them, nor to Boston’s name and roster reveal, not even to react with fellow teams about the upcoming season. Maybe it’s a part of their offseason social strategy, but it just seems like nothing great is happening over in Paris’s camp.
Paris let go of their full roster for the second offseason in a row, opting for Decemate from Seattle, FeLo from the Dallas Empire, John from LA Thieves, and bringing Temp back on the roster after releasing him three months earlier.
Nothing shouts out to me on this roster. But maybe this season they’ll surprise me. Who knows?
They play against the LA Thieves on the 21st.
Florida Mutineers
Florida’s lineup brings back old faces to pick up from a middling 2021 season. Image Source: CDL
After middling results in the 2021 Season, the Mutineers are back and are trying something new: Staying with their current roster.
After Neptune left for NYSL, they replaced him with Davpadie, and signed Vivid from the Dallas Empire. Yeez moved to a substitute role as well.
This looks like a good plan for the Mutineers. Their lineup showed promise, and hopefully they can show up and show out in 2022.
The Mutineers play the Guerillas on January 21st.
Los Angeles Guerillas
LA reloads with a new look roster for 2022. Image Source: LA Guerillas
After failing to qualify for the 2021 Playoffs, the Guerillas released Assault, SiLLY, and MentaL, with Apathy rejoining as a content creator in October 2021.
Their new roster? All potential talent. Asim from NYSL, Gunless from Seattle, alongside SlasheR and Huke from the Thieves.
Aside from Huke misspelling his name before the Stage 4 Finals, the entire roster looks bright and full of talent. When you finish 12th in 2020 and 11th in 2021, the only way to really respond is to sign proven talent. I genuinely think the Guerillas won Rostermania, and I’m excited to see what they do with this talent in 2022.
Wrap-Up
This season is a big one in CoD’s history. With owners, fans, and players asking for a format change to include Challengers rosters (Including Nadeshot sounding off on Twitter and joining HECZ on his Livestream), the lack of a competitive game mode at launch, sucky CDL skins, and 343’s launch of the revamped HCS going swimmingly, the CDL has to make or break this season.
However, there are positives here. The CDL released a community update, calming skeptics in the scene. The CDL was the most tweeted about FPS esport in 2021 despite its issues. And while the regular season will continue online, there will be four offline events hosted by OpTic Texas, Minnesota RØKKR, Toronto Ultra, and New York Subliners, alongside an offline Pro-Am and Champs.
Whatever the opinions are, the CDL is ready for their third season ever. Time to kickoff the season in style.
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