Call of Duty World League
The Call of Duty World League Dallas Open event will be the first LAN competition for over 200 teams this season, with 16 of them getting a head start on the road to the Dallas Open Championship Bracket.
These 16 teams were invited based on Pro Points from the three CWL regions, and were drawn into each pool on November 29. Each team in every pool will play a game against every other team in their pool once, and the top two teams in each pool will advance to the Winner’s Bracket.
Bear in mind that these are not the only teams that are a part of pool play, as the top four open bracket finishers will be drawn into all four groups and will enter the fray as well.
We’ve already taken a look at Pool A and Pool B, so now let’s take a look at the teams in Pools C and D:
Pool C:
Team Kaliber
The Team: Dylan “Theory” McGee, Lamar “Accuracy” Abedi, Kenny “Kenny” Kuavo, Martin “Chino” Chino
Preview:
Continuing to build around their cornerstone player Theory, Team Kaliber decided to retain late pickup Accuracy for the upcoming season, and bring in veteran Chino as well to fill out the ranks with returning star Kenny.
Despite the revamped roster, tK enters with a similar situation to last year, where they were one of the top North American teams invited to pool play of the first Global Open event of the season.
But as that season went on, Theory, Accuracy, and the rest of Team Kaliber stopped qualifying automatically for Global Open event pool play, and had to fight for Pro Points in the open bracket. They eventually earned their spot at the 2017 CWL Championship in the North American Last Chance Qualifier, but could not win a single series at the Championship.
With consistent top-four placements in all of the North American CWL 2K tournaments so far, and with a drive to outperform their performance from last season, Team Kaliber enters the CWL Dallas Open as Group C’s top team.
Red Reserve
The Team: Joseph “Joee” Pinnington, Joshua-Lee “Joshh” Shephard, Rhys “Rated” Price, Trei “Zer0” Morris
Preview:
Joee, Rated, and Zer0 have all returned to the Red Reserve, and welcome former Epsilon standout Joshh as their new fourth player.
Red almost took the top European position after placing second in the first CWL 2K of the season and winning the second, but were passed by Splyce after finishing in the top-eight of the final CWL 2K ahead of the Pro Points lock.
Looking to rebound from a 2017 CWL Championship top-24 finish, Joee and Rated hope that Zer0 and Joshh are the teammates they need to start their Season Three on the right track.
Rise Nation
The Team: Daniel “Loony” Loza, Ulysses “Aqua” Silva, Tyler “FeLonY” Johnson, Thomas “TJHaLy” Haly
Preview:
The same organization that took home last season’s first global open event in Las Vegas hopes to do the same this year in Dallas, albeit with a new preseason acquisition.
Parting ways with Brice “Faccento” Faccento in August, Rise Nation opened this CWL chapter by bringing in Thomas “TJHaLy” Haly, an 18-year-old prodigy who had to sit out two CWL seasons due to age restrictions.
Ready to return to the scene for the first time since his third place finish at the 2015 MLG World Finals, and prove that he is one of Call of Duty’s top players, TJHaLy will bring an injection of young talent to a Rise Nation team who finished fourth at the 2017 CWL Championship.
Mindfreak
The Team: Mitchell “BuZZO” Mader, Conrad “Shockz” Rymarek, Lincoln “Fighta” Ferguson, Denholm “Denz” Taylor
Preview:
Three straight regional CWL 2K tournament wins. No other team in Call of Duty has a firm hold on their region as much as Mindfreak does in APAC, and due to their consistent winning, they earned the lone APAC pool play spot at the CWL Dallas Open.
Mindfreak’s roster formed towards the end of last season, with the team’s first offline event being the CWL Anaheim Open. After securing top-20th in Anaheim, Mindfreak went on to place top-24 at the 2017 CWL Championship by defeating Team Infused in pool play.
However, they finished below their sister team Mindfreak Black at that event, and will be searching for better standings this season. To that end, Mindfreak are set to represent their region against the rest of the world in Dallas.
Pool D:
Splyce
The Team: Ben “Bance” Bance, Dylan “MadCat” Daly, Jordan “Jurd” Crowley, Thomas “Tommey” Trewren
Preview:
The organization that brought the European Revolution enters Season Three’s first global open as the European team with the most Pro Points.
Parting ways with their Stage 1 MVP Trei “Zer0” Morris and opting for a Call of Duty iron man in Tommey, the rest of the returning Splyce roster is hungry for a title after fizzling out in the top-eight during the 2017 CWL Championship.
Splyce started strong by finishing in the grand finals of every European CWL 2K event so far this season, winning two out of three of them outright, and will defend their place on the European throne in Dallas.
eUnited
The Team: Justin “SiLLY” Fargo-Palmer, Alec “Arcitys” Sanderson, Preston “Prestinni” Sanderson, James “Clayster” Eubanks
Preview:
One of eUnited’s most infamous moments in the organization’s short history happened in Dallas, where this team failed to complete a loser’s bracket comeback with a loss to OpTic Gaming in the grand finals.
Just over three months after that event, eUnited pulled off a blockbuster trade with FaZe Clan, sending out an unhappy Pierce “Gunless” Hillman for veteran Clayster.
This season, with a top-six 2017 CWL Championship placement in their rear view mirror, eUnited narrowly qualified for pool play at the final CWL 2K tournament where they became one of the last North American teams to hit the required Pro Points total.
Currently sitting in fourth place on the North American Pro Point leaderboard, eUnited returns to Dallas ready to exorcise their old demons.
Ghost Gaming
The Team: Michael “SpaceLy” Schmale, Andres “Lacefield” Lacefield, Chance “Maux” Moncivaez, Devin “LlamaGod” Tran
Preview:
Ghost Gaming is one of the few organizations who enter the Season Three with their Season Two roster intact, as they want to improve upon their top-eight finish at the 2017 CWL Championship.
So far, this team has finished in the top-eight of every CWL 2K tournament, which gave them enough Pro Points to qualify for the CWL Dallas Open pool play.
If they somehow continue to place within the top-eight of every Global Open and CWL 2K tournament until the Stage 1 Pro Point cutoff, Ghost could more than likely earn a Pro League spot. However, with this team’s lively spirit and drive, they have their sights set at taking home a CWL Dallas Open title.
Evil Geniuses
The Team: Anthony “NAMELESS” Wheeler, Patrick “ACHES” Price, Bryan “Apathy” Zhelyazkov, Ian “Enable” Wyatt
Preview:
The tenth-placed North American team in terms of Pro Points is one squad with a ridiculous amount of experience.
First, there is returning member NAMELESS, who has played in MLG GameBattles competitively since Call of Duty 2. Then there are Apathy and Enable, whose experience in competitive gaming spans over 15 years in Call of Duty combined. And finally, there is ACHES, the legendary captain who made a professional name for himself in 2010, and led a Complexity dynasty to a 2014 Call of Duty Championship title.
These players may not have done as well at the CWL 2K tournaments than their peers, but on LAN, their experience may just give them enough of an edge to make a CWL Dallas Open title run.
Are you ready for the first Open Event of Season Three? Over 800 players will descend on Dallas next week as more than 200 teams battle it out to see who will be named Call of Duty World League Dallas Open Champions.
Be sure to catch the full event which runs December 8 through December 10 at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, Texas. Tickets are still available, and the event will also be streamed live on MLG.tv/callofduty.
For more intel about Call of Duty World League, be sure to visit CallofDuty.com/esports and follow @CallofDuty and @CODWorldLeague on Twitter.