Call of Duty Kickoff Classic Bracket Revealed

The Call of Duty League revealed the bracket of the first competitive event of 2022, the Kickoff Classic tournament. As announced, the tournament will kick off on January 21, featuring all 12 CDL teams who will compete for the lion’s share of the $30,000 prize pool.

The Call of Duty League Kickoff Classic has been confirmed to take place next weekend, providing the Call of Duty esports fans with the first competitive event since the CDL 2021 concluded in August 2021.

Although not officially a part of the CDL 2022 season, the Kickoff Classic will feature all 12 CDL teams and use a similar format that will be in place for the 2022 season.

What’s more, the seeding for the tournament has been affected by the teams’ performance in the 2021 CDL. The four top teams have all been given a first-round bye, including Atlanta FaZe, Minnesota RØKKR, OpTic Texas, and Toronto Ultra.

Meanwhile, Seattle Surge, London Royal Ravens, New York Subliners, Boston, Los Angeles Thieves, Paris Legion, Florida Mutineers, and Los Angeles Guerrillas got seeded into the first round.

The tournament’s seeding and brackets were revealed on Monday, January 10, unveiling the matchup for the first two days of action.

Thursday, January 21

• Florida Mutineers vs Los Angeles Guerrillas
• Seattle Surge vs London Royal Ravels

Friday, January 22

• New York Subliners vs Boston Franchise
• Los Angeles Thieves vs Paris Legion
• Atlanta FaZe vs Surge/Royal Ravens
• Toronto Ultra vs Mutineers/Guerrillas

Saturday, January 23

• Minnesota RØKKR vs Subliners/Boston
• OpTic texas vs Thieves/Legion

Even the first round of action will provide CoD esports fans with plenty of exciting matches to look forward to. Even though R1 will only see the bottom-eight teams from last season, many franchises enter 2022 with revamped rosters.

Kicking off the action is the match between Mutineers and Guerrillas, who have made several roster changes this offseason. Most notably, Guerrillas replaced its entire roster, bringing in five new players, including Cuyler “Huke” Garland and Austin “SlasheR” Liddicoat.

With the roster Guerrillas assembled this offseason, the team looks like a strong contender for a strong finish. However, Guerrillas still have a lot to prove, and the Kickoff Classic will give them the perfect opportunity to do so.

Another exciting match to look forward to is the clash between the New York Subliners and the unnamed Boston franchise. The latter will make its debut in the CDL in 2022 after taking over the spot left behind by Chicago.

As already announced last year, Chicago’s spot, previously owned by OpTic, freed up after OpTic and Envy merged their franchises to form OpTic Texas. The latter team will make its debut in the 2022 season in the second round when they’ll face off the winner of the Thieves vs Legion bout.

Although the Kickoff Classic will serve as the first CoD esports tournament of the year, it won’t be officially a part of the CDL season. Regardless it should give us a better insight into what to expect from the teams when they step on the stage.

The 2022 CDL season will kick off with the 2022 Opening Weekend on February 4-6. Then the 2022 CDL season will be divided into four stages, each lasting three weeks.

Each stage will feature online play and a one-week Major, where the top eight teams from the group stage will compete for the Major title.

Although not much is known about where the LAN Majors will be hosted, the first has been confirmed to take place in Arlington, Texas.

The locations of the next three Majors are expected to be Minnesota, Toronto, and New York.

The season-culminating 2022 CDL Champs will feature only top-eight teams, with a slightly changed format. Unlike last season, the 2022 Champs will seed all squads into the winner’s bracket, meaning no team will get eliminated after one series.

The 2022 season will also introduce two new tournaments in the Pro-Am tournament and Wartone events. These two will join the typical All-Star event.