The top 16 Call of Duty teams in the world have been finalized for pool play at the next major Call of Duty World League event, the CWL New Orleans Open.
Ten North American teams, five European, and one Australian roster will face off from Jan. 12.
Since the release of WWII, players have been earning pro points by playing GameBattles matches, online 2,000 Series tournaments, and the first major offline tournament, the CWL Dallas Open in December. Those points determine seeding for all CWL-related tournaments, including pool play at Global Open events such as CWL New Orleans.
Related: Rise Nation defeat Team Kaliber to win the latest NA CWL 2K tournament
Here are the teams that have qualified for pool play at CWL New Orleans, and where they are seeded.
Top 10 NA teams
1) Team Kaliber: Dylan “Theory” McGee, Lamar “Accuracy” Abedi, Martin Chino, and KennyWilliams
2) OpTic Gaming: Seth “Scump” Abner, Matthew “FormaL” Piper, Damon “Karma” Barlow, and Ian “Crimsix” Porter
3) Luminosity: Josiah “Slacked” Berry, Sam “Octane” Larew, Jordan “JKap” Kaplan, and Johnathan “John” Perez
4) eUnited: James “Clayster” Eubanks, Alec “Arcitys” Sanderson, Preston “Prestinni” Sanderson, and Justin “SiLLY” Fargo-Palmer
5) FaZe Clan: Dillon “Attach” Price, Tommy “ZooMaa” Paparratto, Preston “Priest” Greiner, and James “Replays” Crowder
6) Team Envy: Austin “SlasheR” Liddicoat, Nicholas “Classic” DiCostanzo, Donovan “Temp” Laroda, and Cuyler “Huke” Garland
7) Rise Nation: Daniel “Loony” Loza, Tommy “TJHaLY” Haly, Anthony “Methodz” Zinni, and Peirce “Gunless” Hillman
8) Echo Fox: Brice Faccento, Renato “Saints” Forza, Adam “Assault” Garcia, and Ulysses “Aqua” Silva
9) Ground Zero: Christopher “Parasite” Duarte, Jeremy “StuDyy” Astacio, Jared “Nagafen” Harrell, and Tyler “FeLo” Johnson
10) Enigma6: Jordon General, Brandon “Dashy” Otell, Doug “Censor” Martin, and Rasim “Blazt” Ogresevic
Top five EU teams
1) Splyce: Ben Bance, Jordan “Jurd” Crowley, and Dylan “MadCat” Daly, and Thomas “Tommey” Trewren
2) Red Reserve: Joseph “Joee” Pinnington, Joshua-Lee “Joshh” Shephard, Rhys “Rated” Price, and Trei “Zer0” Morris
3) Team Vitality: Wailers Locart, Eddy “Malls” Maillard, Clément “RiskiN” Hattée, and Arthur “Zayrox” Chabas
4) UNILAD: Matthew “Skrapz” Marshall, Bradley “Wuskin” Marshall, Sean “Seany” O’Connor, and Tom “Moose” Handley
5) Epsilon Esports: David “Dqvee” Davies, Billy “Hawqeh” Harries, Stephen “Vortex” Allen, and Nathan “Insanatised” Orton
Top APAC team
1) Mindfreak: Mitchell “BuZZO” Mader, Conrad “Shockz” Rymarek, Lincoln “Fighta” Ferguson, and Denholm “Denz” Taylor
The 16 teams will be divided into four groups during the CWL New Orleans pool play selection show on Friday, Jan. 5 at 2pm ET. The selection process will go as follows, according to the official 2018 CWL New Orleans rules.
Team Kaliber, the No. 1 NA team, will be placed in Pool A. The No. 2 NA team, OpTic Gaming, will go into Pool B, while Luminosity, the No. 3 NA squad, will be the top team in Pool C. Splyce, the No. 1 EU team, will be the top seed in Pool D.
The fourth through sixth NA seeds and the No. 2 EU team—eUnited, FaZe Clan, Team Envy, and Red Reserve—will be randomly selected into groups starting with Pool D. As the only European team in this round of the process, Red Reserve can’t be placed in Pool D with Splyce.
The seventh and eighth NA seeds, as well as the third and fourth EU teams—Rise Nation, Echo Fox, Team Vitality, and UNILAD—are next to be placed into their groups starting with Pool A. Similar to the last round of the selection process, these two EU teams must be placed into a pool that doesn’t have an EU squad in it.
Finally, Ground Zero, Enigma6, Epsilon Esports, and Mindfreak will round out the selection process as they are randomly placed into a group starting with Pool D.
The event will kick off on Jan. 12 as the last chance for teams to secure their spots in Stage One of the CWL Pro League, which begins on Jan. 23.
