The fourth major Call of Duty World League LAN event for WWII is quickly approaching.
The world’s best Call of Duty teams will be traveling across the pond to England as the 2018 CWL Birmingham Open begins on Friday, March 30.
Over 160 squads are headed to Birmingham’s National Exhibition Center to battle for their share of the $200,000 prize pool.
Here’s everything you need to know about the 2018 CWL Birmingham Open.
Pool play
The pool play teams for this event were determined at the end of the CWL Pro League Stage One regular season on March 22. All 16 CWL Pro League teams automatically earned a spot in pool play for CWL Birmingham. Four open bracket teams will join these groups on Saturday, April 1.
Here are the pools for the 2018 CWL Birmingham Open, as well as the rosters for each team.
Pool A
- Rise Nation: Daniel “Loony” Loza, Tommy “TJHaLY” Haly, Anthony “Methodz” Zinni, and Peirce “Gunless” Hillman
- eUnited: James “Clayster” Eubanks, Alec “Arcitys” Sanderson, Preston “Prestinni” Sanderson, and Justin “SiLLY” Fargo-Palmer
- Echo Fox: Brice Faccento, Adam “Assault” Garcia, Ulysses “Aqua” Silva, and Jared “Nagafen” Harrell (substitute for Renato “Saints” Forza)
- Epsilon: David “Dqvee” Davies, Stephen “Vortex” Allen, Billy “Hawqeh” Harris, and Jordan “Reedy” Reed
- TBD open bracket team
Pool B
- FaZe Clan: Dillon “Attach” Price, Tommy “ZooMaa” Paparratto, Preston “Priestahh” Greiner, and James “Replays” Crowder
- Team Kaliber: Dylan “Theory” McGee, Lamar “Accuracy” Abedi, Martin Chino, and Kenny Williams
- UNILAD: Matthew “Skrapz” Marshall, Bradley “Wuskin” Marshall, Sean “Seany” O’Connor, and Tom “Moose” Handley
- Team Vitality: Eddy “Malls” Maillard, Clément “RiskiN” Hattée, Wailers Locart, and Arthur “Zayrox” Chabas
- TBD open bracket team
Pool C
- OpTic Gaming: Seth “Scump” Abner, Matthew “FormaL” Piper, Damon “Karma” Barlow, and Ian “Crimsix” Porter
- Team Envy: Austin “SlasheR” Liddicoat, Nicholas “Classic” DiCostanzo, Donovan “Temp” Laroda, and Cuyler “Huke” Garland
- Reckless: Richard “Ricky” Stacy, Maurice “Fero” Henriquez, Jacob “Decemate” Cato, and Rasim “Blazt” Ogresevic
- Evil Geniuses: Patrick “ACHES” Price, Bryan “Apathy” Zhelyazkov, Ian “Enable” Wyatt, and Anthony “NAMELESS” Wheeler
- TBD open bracket team
Pool D
- Luminosity: Josiah “Slacked” Berry, Sam “Octane” Larew, Jordan “JKap” Kaplan, and Johnathan “John” Perez
- Red Reserve: Joseph “Joee” Pinnington, Joshua-Lee “Joshh” Shephard, Rhys “Rated” Price, and Trei “Zer0” Morris
- Splyce: Ben Bance, Jordan “Jurd” Crowley, Dylan “MadCat” Daly, and Thomas “Tommey” Trewren
- Mindfreak: Mitchell “BuZZO” Mader, Denholm “Denz” Taylor, Lincoln “Fighta” Ferguson, and Conrad “Shockz” Rymarek
- TBD open bracket team
Open bracket
Non-CWL Pro League teams will have the difficult task of fighting through the open bracket in Birmingham. Since this is an international event, it’s possible that less North American teams will make the trip across the pond. But a few top NA contenders include Lightning Pandas, compLexity, Ghost Gaming, and GGEA Orange. Some European squads, like GGEA Purple and Cyclone, as well as Monaco Esports and Team Heretics—who qualified for pool play earlier this month at CWL Atlanta—could also look to make an open bracket run.
The four teams that survive the open bracket without a loss will be placed into one of the four pool play groups for round-robin play. The final four one-loss teams in the open bracket will also advance to the first round of the championship losers bracket.
Storylines
Rise Nation are the top dogs heading into this tournament. They won CWL Atlanta earlier this month in dominant fashion, and they haven’t lost a series on LAN since Jan. 25. Rise should be considered the heavy favorites to win CWL Birmingham.
This tournament is located in Europe, however, so many EU teams could try to defend their home soil. Red Reserve made an impressive run at CWL Atlanta and appear to be the best EU team in WWII. Other squads like Splyce and UNILAD could see success in Birmingham with the support of the home crowd.
But there will be plenty of top NA teams aiming for the throne, too. Team Kaliber will look to rebound from a top eight placing at CWL Atlanta following their back-to-back championships at CWL Dallas in December and CWL New Orleans in January. Luminosity and FaZe Clan played well in Division B of the CWL Pro League, while Team Envy struggled a bit after their fourth-place finish at CWL Atlanta. Fan-favorite OpTic Gaming will also try to capture their first championship in WWII.
Schedule
Friday and Saturday’s tournament action starts at 6am ET, but the broadcasts will begin at 9am ET. Championship Sunday’s gameplay and broadcast will both start at 6am ET.
Here’s the pool play schedule for Friday’s action at CWL Birmingham.
Friday, March 30
- 9am ET: Splyce vs. Red Reserve
- 9am ET: Team Kaliber vs. Vitality
- 9am ET: FaZe Clan vs. UNILAD
- 9am ET: Luminosity vs. Mindfreak
- 10:30am ET: OpTic Gaming vs. Evil Geniuses
- 10:30am ET: eUnited vs. Epsilon
- 10:30am ET: Rise Nation vs. Echo Fox
- 10:30am ET: Team Envy vs. Reckless
- 12pm ET: Luminosity vs. Red Reserve
- 12pm ET: Splyce vs. Mindfreak
- 12pm ET: FaZe Clan vs. Vitality
- 12pm ET: UNILAD vs. Team Kaliber
- 1:30pm ET: OpTic Gaming vs. Team Envy
- 1:30pm ET: Reckless vs. Evil Geniuses
- 1:30pm ET: Rise Nation vs. Epsilon
- 1:30pm ET: eUnited vs. Echo Fox
- 3pm ET: FaZe Clan vs. Team Kaliber
- 3pm ET: UNILAD vs. Vitality
- 3pm ET: Red Reserve vs. Mindfreak
- 3pm ET: Luminosity vs. Splyce
- 4:30pm ET: Rise Nation vs. eUnited
- 4:30pm ET: Echo Fox vs. Epsilon
- 4:30pm ET: OpTic Gaming vs. Reckless
- 4:30pm ET: Team Envy vs. Evil Geniuses
How to watch
CWL Birmingham action will likely be viewable on a variety of platforms. The tournament will be livestreamed on MLG, as well as Twitch—which should feature an Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie stream. Call of Duty fans who own WWII on PlayStation 4 can also watch CWL Birmingham by using the in-game Theater in the Headquarters.
The 2018 CWL Birmingham Open is sure to feature a lot of high-octane Call of Duty action, and it all begins on March 30.
