Following a massive amount of roster changes, the best Call of Duty players are gearing up for the fifth Call of Duty World League open event of the season.
Starting on Friday, April 20, hundreds of CoD teams will battle for a $200,000 prize pool and the glory of becoming CWL Seattle Open champions at the CenturyLink Field Event Center in Seattle, Washington. The tournament will conclude on Sunday, April 22, with the championship team being awarded $80,000 and 100,000 pro points.
The defending CWL open event champs, Luminosity Gaming, took home the grand prize at the CWL Birmingham Open nearly three weeks ago but they will have to deal with some new and improved lineups at CWL Seattle.
Pool Play
The 16 CWL Pro League teams will begin play with a round-robin group stage. Once the four teams in each pool have played each other, the teams will then play the undefeated open bracket team placed in their group to determine the final pool play standings.
The top two teams from each of the four groups will advance to the championship winners bracket while the bottom three will be placed in the championship losers. In the championship bracket, the teams will play in a double-elimination format to determine the CWL Seattle Open champions.
Here are the groups for the 2018 CWL Seattle Open and the rosters for each team.
Pool A
- FaZe Clan: Dillon “Attach” Price, Tommy “ZooMaa” Paparratto, Preston “Priestahh” Greiner, and James “Replays” Crowder
- Rise Nation: Daniel “Loony” Loza, Tommy “TJHaLY” Haly, Peirce “Gunless” Hillman, and Austin “SlasheR” Liddicoat
- Echo Fox: Renato “Saints” Forza, Brice Faccento, Ulysses “Aqua” Silva, and Donovan “Temp” Laroda
- Tainted Minds: Kainen “Swiftaz0r” Kini, Giancarlo “Nimble” Vagnini, Hayden “Damage” Handakas, and Daniel “Swifty” Hickey
- TBA
Pool B
- OpTic Gaming: Seth “Scump” Abner, Matthew “FormaL” Piper, Damon “Karma” Barlow, and Ian “Crimsix” Porter
- Team Envy: Jacob “Decemate” Cato, Nicholas “Classic” DiCostanzo, Cuyler “Huke” Garland, and Martin Chino
- UNILAD: Matthew “Skrapz” Marshall, Bradley “Wuskin” Marshall, Sean “Seany” O’Connor, and Alex “Alexx” Carpenter
- Epsilon: David “Dqvee” Davies, Stephen “Vortex” Allen, Billy “Hawqeh” Harris, and Jordan “Reedy” Reed
- TBA
Pool C
- Luminosity Gaming: Josiah “Slacked” Berry, Sam “Octane” Larew, Jordan “JKap” Kaplan, and Johnathan “John” Perez
- eUnited: James “Clayster” Eubanks, Alec “Arcitys” Sanderson, Preston “Prestinni” Sanderson, and Tyler “FeLo” Johnson
- compLexity Gaming: Richard “Ricky” Stacy, Rasim “Blazt” Ogresevic, and Doug “Censor” Martin, and Brandon “Dashy” Otell
- Mindfreak: Mitchell “BuZZO” Mader, Denholm “Denz” Taylor, Lincoln “Fighta” Ferguson, and Conrad “Shockz” Rymarek
- TBA
Pool D
- Team Kaliber: Lamar “Accuracy” Abedi, Kenny Williams, Anthony “Methodz” Zinni, and Maurice “Fero” Henriquez
- 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
- Evil Geniuses: Patrick “ACHES” Price, Bryan “Apathy” Zhelyazkov, Adam “Assault” Garcia, and Justin “SiLLY” Fargo-Palmer
- TBA
Open bracket
While there will be 16 pool play teams that have guaranteed top 24 placings, over 100 teams in the open bracket will be fighting for their shot in pool play and a spot in the 24-team championship bracket.
In the open bracket, teams will play in best-of-three series until the later rounds, when series are expanded to five games. Out of the hundreds of teams, only four will finish the bracket without a loss and move on to pool play, and there will only be four more who qualify for the championship losers bracket.
Depending on how the eight-team relegation tournament goes on Thursday, April 19, there may be some former CWL Pro League teams in the open bracket. Evil Geniuses, Team Vitality, Mindfreak, and Epsilon Esports will fight four of the top non-league teams for spots in not only the second stage of the CWL Pro League, but also pool play spots at the CWL Seattle Open.
Other teams that pose a threat in the open bracket include Lightning Pandas, Cyclone, Enigma6, and Ghost Gaming, who recently acquired 2013 world champion Christopher “Parasite” Duarte from compLexity Gaming.
How to watch
CWL Seattle will be livestreamed on MLG, as well as Twitch—which will likely feature Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie streams. Call of Duty fans who own WWII on PlayStation 4 can also watch CWL Seattle by using the in-game Theater in the Headquarters.
Schedule
The action on Friday, April 20 will begin at 2pm CT, but the broadcast will not start until 4pm CT, according to MLG’s website. On Saturday, April 21, teams will begin competition at 12pm CT and the broadcast will begin at 4pm CT once again. Championship Sunday will kick off at 12pm CT.
Here is the pool play schedule for Friday at the CWL Seattle Open.
Friday, April 20
- 4pm CT: Red Reserve vs. Splyce
- 4pm CT: OpTic Gaming vs. UNILAD
- 4pm CT: Team Kaliber vs. Evil Geniuses
- 4pm CT: Team Envy vs. Epsilon
- 5:30pm CT: Rise Nation vs. Echo Fox
- 5:30pm CT: Luminosity vs. compLexity
- 5:30pm CT: FaZe Clan vs. Tainted Minds
- 5:30pm CT: eUnited vs. Mindfreak
- 7pm CT: Team Kaliber vs. Splyce
- 7pm CT: Team Envy vs. UNILAD
- 7pm CT: OpTic Gaming vs. Epsilon
- 7pm CT: Red Reserve vs. Evil Geniuses
- 8:30pm CT: Luminosity vs. eUnited
- 8:30pm CT: FaZe Clan vs. Echo Fox
- 8:30pm CT: Rise Nation vs. Tainted Minds
- 8:30pm CT: compLexity vs. Mindfreak
- 10pm CT: OpTic Gaming vs. Team Envy
- 10pm CT: Team Kaliber vs. Red Reserve
- 10pm CT: Splyce vs. Evil Geniuses
- 10pm CT: UNILAD vs. Epsilon
- 11:30pm CT: FaZe Clan vs. Rise Nation
- 11:30pm CT: eUnited vs. compLexity
- 11:30pm CT: Luminosity vs. Mindfreak
- 11:30pm CT: Echo Fox vs. Tainted Minds
The 2018 CWL Seattle Open will be the first time the Call of Duty World League heads to the Pacific Northwest and due to rostermania, it is shaping up to be the most interesting event this season.
