What Happened On The Call of Duty League Launch

Contrary to the belief of many, the Call of Duty League Launch had a great start last week. Here is what went down in the Minneapolis Armory from Friday to Sunday.

Call of Duty League Launch Results:

Friday 24th January

Los Angeles Guerrillas vs. Minnesota RØKKR (3:1)

Florida Mutineers vs. Seattle Surge (3:2)

Chicago Huntsmen vs. Dallas Empire (3:1)

Saturday 25th January

London Royal Ravens vs. New York Subliners (3:0)

Toronto Ultra vs. Seattle Surge (3:2)

Los Angeles Guerrillas vs. Florida Mutineers (3:2)

Paris Legion vs. OpTic Gaming (3:2)

Atlanta FaZe vs. Dallas Empire (3:0)

Sunday, January 26th

Paris Legion vs. London Royal Ravens (3:0)

Chicago Huntsmen vs. Optic Gaming (3:0)

Minnesota RØKKR vs. Toronto Ultra (3:1)

Atlanta FaZe vs. New York Subliners (3:1)

Unexpected Surprises

2020 is a risky year for Call of Duty, as the game is transitioning from regular to a new franchise model. This was accompanied by wild roster as many players switched organizations in preparation for CoD League. This made power rankings unreliable, and that immediately showed.

Paris Legion, supposedly the worst team based on preseason rankings, already scored 2 wins. They totally dominated the London Royal Ravens, proving that they shouldn't be underestimated. Although they didn't squeeze in much practice, they showed great team coordination. KiSMET revealed that their secret is in being relaxed, “We are always laughing together … making sure everything is calm and mellow”.

On the other hand, Dallas Empire, favorites of many, had a bad start and currently stand at 0:2. However, this didn't break the spirit of iLLey who shared, ” …we're going to out grind everyone and show why we are the best in the game.”. You can see the whole press conference here. Despite the lackluster opening, their peers are still rating them highly.

Dallas Empire will need to work hard to get better placement

Patch Problems

Infinity Ward, the game developer, was under constant fire in the lead-up, thanks to the numerous unresolved bugs. They released the patch only a few days before the event, which left a lot of players unprepared. This is supposedly what resulted in map loss for Los Angeles Guerrillas, due to accidental perk selection. Unfortunately, this isn't really news, as Infinity Ward has been doing similar things throughout the years, much to the dismay of fans. We just hope they've learned from this, and that next few tournaments will run more smoothly.

All in all, the first week of Call of Duty League delivered a lot of surprises and left us wanting more. This might be a good year for both, the franchise and the fans.