CDL 2023: Format, Hosts, Rosters and Events
With LA Thieves crowned as the Champions of the CDL 2022 League, Activision announced CDL 2023 back on September 21st, which is all set to kick off on December 2nd, 2022, 35 days after the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II.
What is Call of Duty League?
CDL, or Call of Duty league, is a franchise-based Esports League organized by Activision. The league follows a system similar to the Overwatch League (OWL), where teams play in a weekly tournament to garner points to battle at an end-of-season game.
The latest release of Call of Duty is the game the teams compete in, with Call of Duty Vanguard played in the CDL 2022 season. The format was initially a 5v5 in the inaugural season and was switched back to 4v4.
In each season of CDL, teams partake in multiple majors where each match is the best of five games using S&D(Search and Destroy), Hardpoint, and Domination, and the first team to win three games win the series.
The general format of CDL followed was a kickoff tournament, followed by majors, which needed teams to go through Challengers to qualify. The team's wins will help them garner points to be eligible for the End of the Year Championship.
CDL 2023 Format, Major Cities, and Schedule:
With the fans complaining about the lack of CDL events, the upcoming CDL will kick off on December 2nd, with the first Major Hosted by Call of Duty League in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The Challengers for Major I will begin on December 2nd, 2022, and Major I will be in a LAN tournament from December 15 to December 18. The qualified teams will battle it out for $500,000 and circuit points.
The first CDL Challengers Open will also be hosted on LAN with the teams where teams who missed Pro-Am can participate. The Major I will also feature Call of Duty: Mobile World Championship and the return of Call of Duty Endowment, a battle between US and UK Military Esports teams.
The rest of the CDL will be similar to the 2022 League, with Major II hosted by Boston Breach. This will be the first time Boston will host a CDL LAN. Major III will take us back to the Green wall, with Optic Texas hosting Major III. NYSL's New York Subliners will host the Major IV.
Unlike the 2022 Season, there'd also be a Major V. The details for Major V are yet to be announced. Finally, the season will culminate in a Championship Weekend where the top eight teams with the highest points will battle to be crowned the best CDL team of 2023.
Confirmed Team Rosters for 2023:
With CDL announcing the roster rules on August 16, multiple organizations have already started their moves, with the Rostermania heating up.
Let's look at all the finalized CDL 2023 rosters to date (October 12th, 2022.)
- LA Guerrillas (Huke, Arcitys, Spart, Neptune)
- Minnesota Rokkr (Afro, Attach, Bance, Cammy)
- Atlanta Faze( aBeZy, Cellium, Simp, Slasher)
- Seattle Surge (Accuracy, Mack, Pred, Sib)
- Toronto Ultra (CleanX, Insight, Scrappy, Standy)
- Florida Mutineers (Brack, Havok, MajorManiak, Vikul)
- Boston Breach (Methodz, Nero, Owakening, Vivid)
- New York Subliners (Priestahh, HyDra, Skyz, KiSMeT0
- Vegas Legion (Clayster, Prolute, Temp, TJhaly)
The remaining teams will soon announce their rosters. We will update the same, so come back to check it out.