The last 5 days saw the Call of Duty World League have it’s Pro League Qualifier (PLQ) event. 28 teams fought for 12 spots in the Pro League, joining the top 4 teams from CWL Las Vagas.

The automatic qualifiers from the first event of the year, CWL Las Vagas, were: OpTic Gaming, eUnited, Splyce, and Luminosity Gaming.

4 pools of 7 teams. Top 2 of each pool head straight to Pro League, bottom 2 in each pool are eliminated. Following, the mid-field progress to a double elimination playoff bracket, with the top 4 advancing.

Pool Play

Seeding in the Four Pools for the Event.

Day 1

Pool A started out even, with FaZe Clan, Team Sween, FaZe Clan Black and Project 18 all splitting their 2 series’. Meanwhile, Pool B saw Fact and Heretics shoot to the top with 2 wins. Facts verses the other two bottom seed teams in their pool and Heretics beating the pool’s top seed Lightning Pandas 3-1 and bottom seed Giants 3-0, no real upsets.

Pool C is where it gets interesting. Midnight beat 100 Thieves 3-0, while Overtime beat the pool’s top seed Team Space 3-0, both big upsets. Midnight continued their push with a close 3-2 series vs Excelerate to top the group for the day. 100T’s picked up their first win in an insanely close series vs Team Space, with a game five 5-1 comeback in Search and Destroy.

Pool D had 4 out of it’s 6 games go to game five, but the only real upset here was top seed Evil Geniuses dropping 2-3 to fourth seed Mind Freak.

Standings After Day 1

Day 2

Pool A continued trading games, the only notable game being Divine beating Reciprocity 3-0. Pool B had Lightning Pandas sustain their slow start, losing 3-1 to bottom seed Giants. On the other hand, the other top seeds Envy and G2 both won out, even if a nail biting 3-2 win vs Heretics was a little close for comfort for Envy.

Pool C, again, wild. Midnight managed to stay unbeaten, defeating Overtime and Pittsburgh knights. Space managed to regain some composure, overpowering Excelerate 3-0, but the other top seed 100T has sustained struggles, losing 3-1 to Pittsburgh Knights.

Pool D. Wins against Imperial and Riders meant Mindfreak also managed to remain unbeaten and EG gained momentum where Riders lost it, with EG beating Red Reserve and Riders. Riders lost in convincing fashion to Mindfreak and EG.

Standings After Day 2

Day 3

Pool A. Although with a game in hand, FaZe’s academy team, FC Black beating Divine and then upsetting Reciprocity meant they ended the day above FaZe. In tandem with this, FaZe lost to Reciprocity in dramatic circumstances letting a 5-1 SnD lead slip. Team Sween had a clean 3-0 verses Project 18 to end Day 3 top of the group and Enigma6 closed out games against P18 and Divine to rise to second.

Pool B. Envy overwhelmed Lightning Panadas 3-0 to see Envy top with 4-0 and Lightning Panadas mirrored at the bottom going 0-4 in the group. Heretics maintained good form and beat Tainted Minds and Fact to finish second.

Pool C. 5th seed Midnight put an end to Space’s refocused mindset, meaning they automatically qualify for Pro League at 5-0 in the group. Day 3 was crunch day for 100 Thieves, however wins against Mazer and Overtime gifted them some confidence back, albeit with criticism from the desk as Nameless was seen calling out Kenny (last year’s overall MVP) for poor performance this year.

Pool D. The so far shaky Red Reserve halted Mindfreak’s unbeaten streak. No upsets in the other games, but Nation of Power losing to Imperial means they cannot qualify for Pro League at 0 and 5.

Standings After Day 3

Day 4 – Final Day of Groups

Pool A. Enigma6 started out with an upset win verses Team Sween and soared past FC Black, meaning the bottom seed of Pool A was one of the first teams through at a 5-1 record. Reciprocity qualified by eliminating Project 18 and FaZe clutched up two game 5 matches to have a three-way-tie in the mid-table for Pool A.

Pool B. Envy, making it seem like it should for a top seed, continued their unbeaten streak easing past Giants and Fact to qualify for Pro League at 6-0. G2 beating Lightning Pandas meant their final game vs Heretics was the game to go. Heretics closed out the tense game 5 against G2 to qualify and send G2 down into the playoffs.

Pool C. 100 Thieves did all they could, winning 3-0 vs Excelerate, and had to wait for other results to see if they qualified. Meanwhile, Midnight dominating Mazer means Midnight are also through at 6-0. Overtime’s win against Pittsburgh Knight guarantees top 2 in the pool for 100 Thieves sending them through. Space power past Mazer and end Pittsburgh Knights’ dreams, sending them home and Space to the playoffs.

Pittsburgh Knights were 2-1 at the end of Day 2, only needing one win to make it through to the playoffs, but 3 loses in a row conclude their bid for Pro League at 2-4.

Pool D. UYU close out a game 5 verses Mindfreak to bring half the group into contention for the top 2 spots. Red Reserve and EG both take wins against NoP and Imperial respectively. Crunch time for the group; Red Reserve finishing off Riders, sends UYU through due to head-to-head results, but UYU then falling to EG mean EG top the group. Mindfreak, having ended Day 2 at 4-0, finish group stages 4-2 in 4th position.

Final Group Standings

Playoffs

The top 2 from each group qualified for the CWL Pro League and the 3 mid-field teams were split up from their pools and dropped down into a double elimination playoff bracket for the final 4 spots. Seeding was based on the the final pool positions and ties were decided based on who won the head-to-head match ups within the group.

Initial Bracket Setup

Winners Bracket

Initial games were quickly decided with Team Space and Team Sween both powering through opponents. Excelerate sent FaZe down to the losers bracket in Round 2 after a close 5 game series. Despite Sween’s confident start to the bracket Excelerate pushed past them to qualify. Another shock game was G2 losing to Mindfreak 3-1. Perhaps both FaZe and G2 suffering from slow starts against opponents who had already played a series. Completing the upper bracket Space continued their good start and passed straight through to the Pro League.

Winners Bracket Final Standings

Losers Bracket

Down in last chance saloon. Fact, FC Black and Tainted Minds dropped to their veteran opponents and Raiders pushed but ultimately G2 move on.

If you didn’t have 2 screens to watch I feel for you, simultaneously two game 5 clashes as Red Reserve vs G2 and Overtime vs FaZe both go down to the wire. Conclusively, Red Reserve beat G2 in SnD round 11 while FaZe fall 6-3 in SnD. These were some of the top games of the event, made even tighter by the cost of losing.

Finally, after a strong tournament from both Sween and Mindfreak, who both fell from their winners bracket game-to-go, the pressure sinks in and they both stumble at the final hurdle. Meaning Red Reserve and Overtime are the final teams through to the Pro League.

Losers Bracket Final Standings

The Pro League

“The 16 Pro League teams are split up into two divisions, but there will no longer be a relegation period nor two separate stages, like in previous years. This year, there will only be one stage with 12-weeks of play, including inter-divisional play. There will be roster change periods throughout the season.” – CWL League Operations

Here is how the Divisions shape up. Teams are seeded and split based on the 4 initial automatic qualifiers, then the pool winners and then the playoff winners.

The Division Split for All the Qualifying teams

The Pro League begins February 4th. Teams will compete Monday to Thursday on a weekly basis throughout the season, with breaks built in for events. Full schedule available through MLG.