There are a lot of rookies making their first appearance at the 2016 Call of Duty World Championship this year — to be more specific 29 of the 64 North American players are “rookies”.

This may come as a surprise to many but Martin ‘Chino’ Chino, Troy ‘Sender’ Michaels, and Steven ‘Diabolic’ Rivero will be making their first appearances at a World Championship after being around for so long. Lucky for them they’ll have world champion Adam ‘Killa’ Sloss alongside them to (hopefully) lead them to a good placement.

Pnda Gaming is the big team of rookies going into the 2016 Call of Duty World Championship, 3/4ths of the roster is comprised of rookies alongside veteran Aaron ‘Tuquick’ Chang. The three other members on the roster consist of Ethan ‘Fastballa’ Wedgeworth, Preston ‘Priest’ Greiner, and Brandon ‘Nelson’ McKinney.

Apotheon Esports is literally all rookies, all four members of the roster are rookies. For those fans who don’t keep up with competitive call of duty outside of the top pro teams you might even confuse these guys with European or Australian players because they seem to have come out of nowhere. Matt ‘Stumpfy’, Preston ‘Prestinni’, and Alec ‘Arcitys’ recently placed 9th — 12th at the MLG Orlando Open. Mayhem recently placed 21st — 24th at MLG Anaheim under Most Wanted (Hate, Apox, and Drama).

Most Wanted is also compromised completely of rookies including Nick ‘Hate’ OConnor, Spoof, Beehzy, and Robert ‘Juju’ Lamkin. The roster recently placed 17th — 20th together at the MLG Orlando Open.

Andres ‘Lacefield’ Lacefield is making his first appearance at a Call of Duty World Championship, representing Cloud 9. Lacefield’s best placing in Black Ops 3 was at UMG South Carolina under H2K Gaming where he took 3rd/4th place alongside Phizzurp, Legal, and Fears (all of which failed to qualify for the 2016 World Championship).

Colt ‘Havok’ McLendon is making his first appearance at a Call of Duty World Championship, representing Complexity Gaming. McLendon’s best placing in Black Ops 3 was in the 2016 North American CWL Stage 2 Playoffs under Cloud 9 where he took 5th — 8th place alongside Llama, Assault, and Happy.

Devin ‘Llamagod’ Tran is making his first appearance at a Call of Duty World Championship, representing Complexity Gaming. Tran’s best placing in Black ops 3 was 2016 North American CWL Stage 2 Playoffs under Cloud 9 where he took 5th — 8th place alongside Havok, Assault, and Happy.

Mike ‘Swarley’ Carter is making his first appearance at a Call of Duty World Championship, representing Complexity Gaming. Carter’s best placing in Black Ops 3 was at the MLG Orlando Open where he placed 7th/8th under Cloud 9 with Havok, Assault, and Silly.

Anthony ‘Methodz’ Zinni is making his first appearance at a Call of Duty World Championship, representing ‘Corn’ (currently looking for an organization). Zinni’s best placing in Black Ops 3 was 9th — 12th in the CWL North American Pro Division Qualifying Tournament.

Teegan ‘Tcm’ McCarthy is making his first appearance at a Call of Duty World Championship, representing ‘Corn’ (currently looking for an organization). McCarthy only attended one Black Ops 3 event (MLG Orlando Open) where he placed 21st — 24th with Lethal Gaming (Johnny, Miyagi, and Twizz).

Michael ‘Spacely’ Schmale will be making his first appearance at a Call of Duty World Championship, representing Luminosity Gaming. While Schmale is far from a “rookie” in the Call of Duty scene (first placing pro at the age of 14), this will be his first ever appearance at a World Championship event (and an event with such a large prize pool).

Samuel ‘Octane’ Larew will be making his first appearance at a Call of Duty World Championship, representing Rise Nation. Busting into the scene last year, Larew has been dominating ever since. This year he gets his first chance to play for all the marbles at a world championship.

Josiah ‘Slacked’ Berry will be making his first appearance at a Call of Duty World Championship, representing Rise Nation. Although Berry has been in the scene all the way back since Black Ops 1 he has yet to compete at a World Championship. It will be interesting to see how his team of “rookies” does at the event.

John ‘Xotic’ Bruno’ will be making his first appearance at a Call of Duty World Championship, representing Team Allegiance. Bruno’s best placing in Black Ops 3 was at the MLG Orlando Open where he placed 13th — 16th with Team Allegiance (Remy, Royalty, and Mochila).

Matthew ‘Royalty’ Faithfull will be making his first appearance at a Call of Duty World Championship, representing Team Allegiance. Faithfull had his best Black Ops 3 placing in the North American CWL Stage 2 Regular Season with 100 Thieves where he finished 12th.

Tyler ‘Felony’ Johnson will be making his first appearance at a Call of Duty World Championship, representing Team Elevate. Johnson’s best placing in Black Ops 3 was recently over at the MLG Anaheim Open where he took 2nd place with Team Elevate (Aqua, Nagafen, and Faccento).

Cole ‘Colechan’ Chancey will be making his first appearance at a Call of Duty World Championship, representing Team Kaliber. Chancey’s best placing in Black Ops 3 was in the North American CWL Stage 1 playoffs where he placed 5th — 8th with Team Solomid (Pacman, Whea7s, and Ivy).

Nick ‘Happy’ Suda will be making his first appearance at a Call of Duty World Championship, representing Team Kaliber. Suda’s best placing in Black Ops 3 was in the North American CWL Stage 2 Playoffs where he placed 5th — 8th with Cloud 9 (Havok, LlamaGod, and Assault).

Andrew ‘Ivy’ Ivers will be making his first appearance at a Call of Duty World Championship, representing Living the Dream (ex-TSM). Ivers’ best placing in Black Ops 3 was in the North American CWL Stage 1 Playoffs where he placed 5th — 8th with Team Solomid (Pacman, Whea7s, and Colechan).