Call of Duty League Returns to Offline Play for Stage 4 Major

The Call of Duty League (CDL) will return to LAN play for Stage 4 Major, as announced by Activision on Thursday, May 6. It will mark the first time the teams will get to play in an offline environment since CDL moved to online play 14 months ago.

Call of Duty “online” League

Since its inception in January 2020, the CDL has been played almost exclusively online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After the Launch Weekend, London, Atlanta, and Los Angeles Home Series, CDL was forced to transition to online play for the remaining nine Home Series, as well as the CDL Championship and CDL All-Star.

The last offline CDL event was in March 2020, when Dallas Empire won the Los Angeles Home Series. The Dallas outfit then went on to win their first CDL Championship in August.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, the second season of CDL was forced to power through with an online format. Although the CDL continued as planned with minimal complications, the LAN events were dearly missed by both the community and the players.

CDL Stage 4 Major returns to LAN

The CoD community got an early Christmas present on Thursday, May 5, when the CDL organizers announced the return of offline play. As revealed by Activision, the CDL Stage 4 Major, slated for June 17-20, will be played at Esports Stadium Arlington in Arlington, Texas.

It will feature all 12 teams who will fight for the lion’s share of the $500,000 prize pool and CDL points.

“Following the Stage IV online regular season, Call of Duty League will venture to Esports Stadium Arlington for the first LAN event of the year: Major IV, taking place June 17-20, 2021,” read the announcement.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, the CDL must adhere to strict League health and safety protocols. That means that the event will be limited to players and CDL team staff, with no live crowd in attendance.

The CDL commentators and hosts will have to remain remote, excluding Jess Brohard, who is allowed on-site for post-match interviews.

“We have been diligently exploring ways for the Call of Duty League to return to a live event format, so long as it is safe to do so. Today is the first step in that process.”

While CDL Stage 4 Major moves offline, the regular-season matches will still be played online. At the time of writing, there are no decisions or announcements regarding CDL Stage 5 and the Championship.

CDL Stage 3 Continues on Friday, May 7

Before CDL Stage 4 beings, the teams still need to play out Stage 3 matches and the Major. As it stands now, there are still four three days of the group stage play, followed by Stage 3 Major, scheduled for May 13-16.

Two games are scheduled to play out on Friday, May 7, featuring Atlanta FaZe, Seattle Surge, Dallas Empire, and Florida Mutineers.

Odds for Atlanta FaZe vs. Seattle Surge match

Odds courtesy of BetOnline Sportsbook:

• FaZe -909
• Surge +486
• FaZe -2.5 +143
• Surge +2.5 -192
• Over 3.5 Maps -179
• Under 3.5 Maps +132

Atlanta FaZe have been a force to be reckoned with early into the season but have since started to slump. They’re 2-1 in Stage 3, which isn’t too terrible; however, their performances are not nearly as impressive as a couple of weeks back.

Luckily for the Stage 1 champions, the Seattle Surge are one of the worst teams in the league. They are 0-3 with a 2-9 map differential and rightfully priced as massive underdogs for this match.

The Surge might still steal one map off the shaky FaZe. However, for that to happen, they need to step up their game.

Odds for Dallas Empire vs. Florida Mutineers match

Odds courtesy of BetOnline Sportsbook:

• Empire -204
• Mutineers +151
• Empire -1.5 +111
• Mutineers +1.5 -147
• Over 4.5 Maps +160
• Under 4.5 Maps -217

A clash between two teams that haven’t been too impressive of late. Dallas are 2-1, while Mutineers managed only one win (1-2) thus far. A win for Dallas would all but guarantee them a top seed for Stage 3 Major, whereas a win for Florida would keep them in a race for a top-three finish. Even though Dallas Empire beat Mutineers 3-0 last time out, this match likely won’t be as one-sided.