The first official LAN event for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is just around the corner—and soon we’ll find out the groups for pool play at the tournament.
The pool draw show for CWL Las Vegas will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 21 at 12pm CT, the Call of Duty World League announced earlier today.
CWL Las Vegas will be held from Dec. 7 to 9. Aside from the obvious changes to competitive Call of Duty in Black Ops 4, such as five-vs-five competition, CWL Las Vegas will be operated like most of the esports’ traditional open LAN events.
The first 12 pool play spots will be based on the top 12 teams from Stage Two of the CWL Pro League in WWII. This rule, however, only affects teams that kept at least three of the four players from last year’s roster. These teams include FaZe Clan, eUnited, Luminosity, and Red Reserve—as well as 100 Thieves, Team Envy, and Team Reciprocity, who acquired three-fourths of other squads that placed in the top 12 of Stage Two last year.
Related: Call of Duty rostermania: Pre-Black Ops 4
The remaining teams will be determined based on the pro points accumulated during the 2018 season. Teams that fall under this classification for CWL Las Vegas include OpTic Gaming, Splyce, G2 Esports, and Evil Geniuses.
The fourth team in each pool will be determined through a play-in tournament held in Las Vegas on Dec. 6. Eight teams will earn a spot in this qualifier based on their WWII pro points, and the top four teams will then join the other 12 in pool play to kick off CWL Las Vegas.
Of course, CWL Las Vegas will also feature an open bracket for all other teams—and the best four teams from the open bracket will become the fifth and final squad in each group for pool play.
There are a lot of interesting storylines heading into the 2019 CWL season—OpTic look to return to the top of competitive Call of Duty, while plenty of revamped rosters will try to prove their worth in the new game. And we’ll find out what the initial groups look like for CWL Las Vegas on Wednesday.
