The new Call of Duty League League (CDL) is the newest esports league to move from a traditional league to a franchised one. With this comes many changes from teams, players and the way the league operates. Activision Blizzard felt in order to take a step forward and grow Call of Duty esports, a franchised league was needed, much like the Overwatch League.

Now that the new league is formed, new and exciting changes have come, and one of the major changes is giving more exposure to amateur players who are looking to become professional Call of duty players. So how do you become a professional Call of Duty esports player?

How Do Players Get Noticed By Esports Teams?

There are hundreds of thousands of Call of Duty players that play competitively. Some play just for the sake of having bragging rights in a lobby, or to spread their dominance on social media channels. Others participate in homebrewed clans. However, there are competitive Call of Duty players who are looking to be the next recruit by one of the major esports teams.

There are many ways to be recruited by an esports team. Many players have social media channels and highlight their skills on them. Either they upload trickshots, clutch moments, and impressive full-length game plays showcasing their skills, their mental game, and their gaming intelligence. Being an esports player requires having a strict schedule in order to fine-tune your skills. Some players already have the gaming skills to propel them to higher highs, while other players take a little bit longer to master.

But those who stand out from the crowd are typically ones with a large following on social media channels like Twitter and Instagram. Typically these players have impressive clips that they share from their streaming platform (Twitch, Mixer, YouTube Gaming, etc…). Additionally, these stand out players are sometimes well connected within a specific league and receive some word-of-mouth to get ahead.

The Call of Duty League 2020 Schedule. Presale for select events begins November 12, sign up for access: https://t.co/lRypAKKV71 pic.twitter.com/oBDhKfj5tB — Call of Duty League (@CODLeague) November 7, 2019

But it’s really the social media channels that help spread the word for players as one gamer can get exposed to esports teams from a viral tweet. But with the new Call of Duty League, there’s another way to get noticed.

Typically the way esports teams recruit players are from many of the cases above, as well as having their own dedicated Discord channel for tryouts. But now there’s another option for amateur players to get noticed by Call of Duty esports teams. With the new CDL league formed, Activision Blizzard has also introduced two new ways to be part of the new league, and one of those are particularly interesting to players who are looking to make it big. It’s called the Call of Duty Challengers. Taken from the CDL website:

“Call of Duty Challengers™ is the official path to pro system for amateur players around the globe, carrying with it a prize pool of over $1 Million ­– combining all online and offline activities.”

In the old Call of Duty World League (CWL) has amateur tournaments that gave the opportunity to teams who wren;t able to qualify for the CWL Pro League a chance at getting noticed and participating in the pro season. There were many different tournaments such as the MTN DEW AMP GAME FUEL Open Bracket competition held at CWL Anaheim. New teams and players would show up, and they would get some coverage during the CoD tournament broadcasts.

With the Call of Duty Challengers, anyone can join and participate as it’s essentially a player’s path to pro.

How Does Call of Duty Challengers Work?

In order to participate in the Call of Duty Challengers system, you need to create a GameBattles account and sign your team up for Online Call of Duty Challengers competition in which you will compete in a region associated with your GB account. You also need to be:

In good standing with any Activision, GameBattles and PlayStation Network accounts.

Be over 18 years old.

Reside and compete in the region associated with your GameBattle account (North America, Europe, Asia).

Not be an employee of Activision, a relative of an Activision employee or an entity that is controlled by Activision.

Not be on a roster of more than one Challengers team at the same time

Hold a valid passport and any necessary visa or other governmental authorization required for your travel and participation.

Most of these guidelines are standard, and you can read more about the rules of the Call of Duty Challengers here.

You’ll also want to make sure to have your Call of Duty Competitive Settings on which are based on Call of Duty League settings. They are typically as follows:

Game Setting “Input Swap Allowed” set to DISABLED

Gameplay Setting “Spawn Camera” set to ENABLED

Gameplay Setting “Cranked Timer” set to DISABLED

Game Setting “Skip Infil” set to ENABLED

Team Setting “Weapon Pings on Compass” set to DISABLED

Team Setting “Enemy on Compass” set to DISABLED

Gameplay Setting “Equipment Delay” set to DISABLED

Gameplay Setting “Equipment Protection” set to 7.5 SECONDS

These settings can change based on the latest updates for any new tournament. You can find all the updates for competitive settings here. Keyboards and mouse are prohibited in the league.

Call of Duty Online and Lan Competitions

The Call of Duty Challengers will be split up between online competitions which include 24/7 Ladders and LAN competitions that take place throughout the season. Players will be able to collect “Challenger Points” which is a system that ranks players individually. This helps determine the seeding of teams during competitions.

What’s Next?

The Call of Duty Challengers is one of the best ways to get noticed by Call of Duty esports teams, and the best chance for you to become a professional esports player. There are thousands of players looking to take the next step to pro, and this is probably the best route to the CDL. As mentioned before, doing other things like building your followers and uploading great content to your social media channels also helps because you’ll get more eyes on you. It never hurts to go beyond the requirements.

Good luck to any players who are looking to becoming pro and join the Call of Duty League.

If you have additional questions you can send your messages to [email protected].