The Call of Duty League 2021 season is gearing up to kick off next month, but fans of the CDL won’t have to wait that long to see some pro competition. A special pre-season event later this month will celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Call of Duty League and its big changes—including franchising city-based teams—last year in the wake of the Call of Duty World League.
The regular season of CDL 2021 begins on February 11-14, 2021 with the Atlanta FaZe Home Series online event. However, before the beginning of the regular season, the Call of Duty League Kickoff Classic will be broadcast as a pre-season event on January 23-24, 2021. The Kickoff Classic will feature fan voting for matchups during the event. The top three regular season teams from 2020 will hold online polls and viewers will choose who they’ll face.
- Dallas Empire, 2020 CDL Champions –
- New York Subliners
- Paris Legion
- London Royal Ravens
- Atlanta FaZe –
- Florida Mutineers
- Los Angeles Guerrillas
- Seattle Surge
- OpTic Chicago (formerly Chicago Huntsmen) –
- LA Thieves
- Minnesota RØKKR
- Toronto Ultra
The teams who are not voted into matches in the Kickoff Classic polls will face off in their own matches during the pre-season event.
Additionally, the Call of Duty League Kickoff Classic will feature the Group Selection Draw Show, broadcast during the pre-season event. “The unique snake draft format will allow teams to select the team that will be placed in its next-ranked opponents group. 2020 Call of Duty League Champions Dallas Empire (Group Alpha) will select first, determining who second-place Atlanta FaZe will have in its own group (Group Bravo). Atlanta will then select a team for Dallas’ group.” This will set the stage for the regular season competition. More information on the draw format will be coming in the future.
The Kickoff Classic will also feature additional details on the Call of Duty League 2021 season format details, more of the season schedule, and prizing.
Late last year, Call of Duty League released an explainer video showcasing some of the new format and changes coming to the 2021 season, such as the shift back to 4v4 play, requiring teams to eliminate one of their formerly 5-man teams.
All Call of Duty League 2021 events will be broadcast exclusively on YouTube, at YouTube.com/CODLeague. This year’s League season also moves to PC play using controllers, and will not be played on PS5 consoles. Part of this could be due to limited inventory availability of the PS5 console, as well as Sony’s limitations on custom/pro controllers right now, which would require all players to use the DualSense if PS5’s were used. It remains to be seen if League play will move back to console in the future.
Call of Duty League 2021 begins on February 11-14, 2021 with the Atlanta FaZe Home Series online event. The Call of Duty Kickoff Classic sets the stage for the upcoming season on January 23-24, 2021.
