Call of Duty World League
Making one last push for Call of Duty World League Dallas Open pool play spots, hundreds of teams from all three CWL regions competed in the November 26 CWL 2K Tournament Series. The path to the CWL Dallas Open, and to the Call of Duty World League Championship 2018 , is built through Pro Points, and you can track the current Pro Points standings right here for North America, Europe, and Australia/New Zealand.
While this tournament marks the final opportunity for teams to automatically qualify for CWL Dallas Open pool play, there is still one week remaining until the Dallas open bracket seeds are finalized. The last major MLG GameBattles CWL 2K tournament series before the open bracket Pro Points cutoff is on December 3, and you can sign up for those tournaments right here if you are a part of the North American, European or Asian/Pacific regions.
While the road to the CWL Dallas Open is almost over, the Pro Points earned before, during, and after will continue to matter for the rest of the season. Pro Points will factor into seeding for the next Global Open in New Orleans and the CWL 2K Tournaments, as well as determine who earns invitations to the Pro League and the inaugural CWL National Circuit.
Here is what happened during each of the regional CWL 2K tournaments for the weekend of November 26, and a breakdown of the teams that will be heading to the CWL Dallas Open as a part of the pool play groups:
Mindfreak Seals Lone APAC Bid for CWL Dallas Pool Play
Heading into this tournament, Mindfreak only had to participate and be in the top-32 to guarantee a pool play position in Dallas.
With a low bar for Mindfreak to clear, the team to beat in the APAC region not only locked up their spot in the CWL Dallas Open pool play, but they also won their third straight CWL 2K tournament.
Mindfreak’s path to gold was a familiar one, as they defeated Tainted Minds in a four game semifinal before facing DELS, a team lead by Cody “Excite” Rugolo, in the finals. While DELS kept it close in the series, going so far as to force an 11th round in game two on U.S.S. Texas Search and Destroy. However, Mindfreak swept them for the second time in three weekends.
Mindfreak completely ran away with APAC’s only CWL Dallas pool play spot with their three straight CWL 2K wins, but there is still plenty of time and opportunity for DELS, Tainted Minds, SYF Gaming and the rest of APAC to catch up before the start of the CWL Pro League.
Splyce Reclaim European CWL 2K Title, Team Vitality Earn Pool Play Position
After losing in last weekend’s CWL 2K finals to Red Reserve, Splyce redeemed themselves by winning the final CWL 2K tournament before the pool play roster lock, and guaranteed themselves the number one European seed in pool play.
While another CWL 2K victory for Splyce was notable in its own right, all eyes were set on the final pool play spot in Europe, which was up for grabs after Delivare were upset by Team Supremacy in the quarterfinals.
Unfortunately for Supremacy, they needed to win the CWL 2K outright in order to steal that spot, and their run ended with a loss to eventual champions Splyce in the semifinals. That left Movistar Riders, a team comprised entirely of Spanish players, and Team Vitality, an all-French team lead by Wailers “Wailers” Locart, locked for in a single series to determine the final Dallas pool play spot for Europe.
The series began with a 250-200 London Docks Hardpoint win for Movistar, but Vitality quickly evened the series up with a 6-4 victory on Ardennes Forest Search and Destroy. From there, Team Vitality took home a defensive 7-3 Sainte Marie du Mont Gridiron game, and punched their tickets across the pond to the CWL Dallas Open by winning the final Hardpoint on Gibraltar.
eUnited Hop off the Bubble and Onto the North American CWL 2K Throne
Before this weekend, eUnited’s fate seemed to be similar to that of FaZe Clan and Echo Fox, who both picked up CWL Championship 2017 competitors for the third CWL season. But despite the influx of talent, all three teams have had to fight for their right to be in the CWL Dallas Open pool play after underperforming in the first two CWL 2K tournaments.
While Echo Fox and FaZe could not place well enough in this weekend’s CWL 2K, eUnited showed their vintage form and powered through the tournament to a pool play bid and the CWL 2K title.
Coming off a win over Rogue in the round of 32, eUnited were tasked at defeating fellow bubble team Echo Fox, who made it to the round of 16 by upsetting Team EnVyUs in a five game series. Along with the help of OpTic Gaming and Enigma6 taking out other borderline pool play teams in HellFire and Devon “Goonjar” Goonjar-Lim’s “Team Canada,” eUnited confirmed their place in Dallas pool play with a full sweep of Echo Fox.
After taking a well-deserved rest, eUnited came back Monday firing on all cylinders, sweeping Enigma6 out of the tournament and overcoming OpTic Gaming in a series that went the full five games. Team Kaliber then became the last team standing in the way of eUnited’s title run, with tK hoping to win their first CWL 2K tournament of the season after two straight top-four finishes over the past two weekends. Although eUnited dropped the first game on Gibraltar Hardpoint, last season’s CWL Atlanta Open champions won three straight games, including an 11 round Search and Destroy on Sainte Marie du Mont, to take the November 26 North American CWL 2K tournament title.
The CWL Dallas Open Pool Play Selection Groups
All 16 teams are set for CWL Dallas Open pool play, and barring any unfortunate circumstances, here is how the pool play draw will shake up:
First, the top three North American teams and the top European team are automatically placed into separate groups. This means that OpTic Gaming are in Pool A, Luminosity is in Pool B, Team Kaliber is in Pool C, and Splyce are in Pool D.
Then, eUnited, Enigma6 Group, Ground Zero, which is a team lead by Christopher “Parasite” Duarte, and Red Reserve will be randomly drawn into each pool. Due to the pool play draw rules, if Red Reserve are drawn into Pool D, where Splyce reside, they will be placed to the next eligible pool without a European team instead.
After that round of draws, Ghost Gaming, Rise Nation, Team Vitality, and team dcsa led by twins Matthew “skrapz” and Bradley “wuskin” Marshall, will be placed into each pool. Once again, the two European teams in this round must be drawn into pools that do not already contain a European team, or else they will be placed into the next eligible pool.
Finally, the draw will end with Team EnVyUs, Evil Geniuses, Epsilon eSports and Mindfreak rounding out the pools for the CWL Dallas Open.
If you want to know what groups these 16 pool play teams will compete in at the CWL Dallas Open, then tune into the Dallas Pool draw on Wednesday, November 29 at 2pm ET / 11am PT on MLG.tv/callofduty. The CWL Dallas Open will take place from December 8-10, and will also be streamed live over on MLG.tv/callofduty.
For more intel about Call of Duty World League, be sure to visit CallofDuty.com/esports