Power Rankings for the 12 Call of Duty League teams
With the Florida Mutineers announcing their roster yesterday, all 12 of the Call of Duty League teams are confirmed and official. While some teams have yet to announce coaches or substitutes, all that’s left now is to wait until January 24 for the CDL’s launch weekend in Minnesota. Although, with every team now confirmed and practicing together, it’s fair to wonder which rosters hold the edge against the others.
Today, we’ll be ranking each Call of Duty League team based on talent and current performance in scrimmages. Keep in mind, however, these are preliminary rankings based on online practice. Things could drastically change when teams play on LAN for the first time.
Dallas Empire
As we aforementioned in a post last week, the Dallas Empire are far and away the most complete roster currently in the Call of Duty League. From their talent to experience to overall chemistry, it’s hard to see Dallas not being among the top teams in 2020.
The biggest question pressing Dallas is how will their rookie players play on LAN. Both the likes of iLLeY and Shotzzy have never played Call of Duty professionally on a mainstage. While Shotzzy has Halo experience, it’s fair to wonder how their online play with translate to LAN.
However, regardless of that, the Empire are still talented enough to be a contender in every matchup they play.
Chicago Huntsmen
The Huntsmen are the closest team in terms of skill to Dallas. Chicago has arguably the most experienced roster and features some of the top players in Call of Duty over the past few years. The roster currently houses three World Champions, including a defending champ in Arcitys.
While they might not be up to Dallas’ level yet, this roster has enough experience and talent to challenge the Empire. It’ll be interesting to see which team comes out on top when they first match up in 2020.
Atlanta FaZe
Another team with an insane amount of raw talent, Atlanta features the “tiny terrors”. A team full of players short in stature but giant in terms of skill, Atlanta can easily out-slay most other rosters. Featuring the defending world champ and MVP Simp along with some of the best young talents in Call of Duty, ATL has the potential to contend not only this year but for years to come.
However, with a team full of slayers, one or two players will need to step back and take a more objective-based role.
Seattle Surge
The Seattle Surge certainly have one of the most experienced lineups in the CDL. Each member of the roster has secured at least one championship, something no other roster can boast. Although, while they do have the slaying prowess of Octane, this roster is full of role players. Someone will need to step up in the slaying department if this team wants to keep up with the other rosters.
New York Subliners
New York is one of those teams that is capable of big things but we simply don’t know how they’ll match up against the other rosters on LAN. They have a great roster with tons of talent and experience but not a whole lot of recent success. The Subliners are definitely in the mix for teams who can take home a championship but they have a longer ways to go than some of the other rosters.
London Royal Ravens
While on paper London looks to have a solid team, we simply don’t know much about them in Modern Warfare. Since a majority of the roster live overseas, their performance online can’t be measured the same as other teams. With higher pings, their connection isn’t as strong leading to inconsistent gameplay. We’ll know a lot more about London once they get on LAN.
Minnesota Rokkr
Now we’re starting to get into the middle-of-the-road rosters, beginning with Minnesota. The Rokkr took a chance on some players, like GodRx, so they don’t have the same talent as the top CDL teams do. Look for the Rokkr to be competitive in 2020 but it’s hard to see them beating the top rosters.
Florida Mutineers
The Mutineers are in the same boat as Minnesota; they have a solid roster but lack the overall talent of other rosters like Dallas or Chicago. However, Flordia has a much higher ceiling than Minnesota due to the building of their roster. Although, for now, the Rokkr have been holding the edge in online practice.
OpTic Gaming L.A.
In one of the bigger surprises, OpTic Gaming haven’t been looking too hot in online scrimmages. The roster constantly gets blown out by other teams despite the talent that OG possesses. While things could still change in the next couple of months, OpTic looks to be near the bottom in terms of performance.
Toronto Ultra
The Ultra has a strange roster; they were one of the final teams to announce a starting lineup but the roster is made up of players from all over. They have Spanish players from the former Team Heretics squad as well as Americans and Europeans. It’s difficult to see the Ultra staying competitive with such a diverse and at times inexperienced roster.
Los Angeles Guerillas
While not a horrible roster, the Guerillas simply lack slaying power. The team is chock full of players who usually play an objective role and aren’t known for their gun skill. Though something could change, the Guerillas should be a relatively uncompetitive team in 2020.
Paris Legion
Rounding out the rankings is the Paris Legion. While the ceiling can be high for this roster, they are simply outmatched across the board by other squads. Paris also doesn’t have a set starting roster, meaning they’ll be substituting players for individual games. The Legion shouldn’t make too many waves this year and might want to think about reworking their roster later in the year.
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