Call of Duty League 2021 power rankings after CDL Kickoff Classic Call of Duty LeagueThe Call of Duty League is set to get underway very soon, with the CDL Kickoff Classic finished and teams showing what we can expect in the coming season. The return of the Call of Duty League means the return of Dexerto\u2019s power rankings, tracking each team\u2019s performances and highs and lows throughout the season. While the inaugural 2020 season of the CDL saw teams like Dallas Empire and Atlanta FaZe dominate, fans will be looking to see more sides stake their claim as best team in the game throughout Black Ops Cold War. With the roster shuffles that occurred during the Call of Duty League offseason, some teams are looking much better off \u2014 while others may struggle to find their feet. We\u2019ve considered 2020 performances, our limited information on scrims, team potential and the CDL Kickoff Classic to come up with our pre-season power rankings. 12. Seattle Surge Different Seattle, but no extra Surge Despite some roster changes that look to be a positive for the team, including the acquisitions of Gunless and Prestinni, Seattle don\u2019t look to be much better off now than they were last season. On paper, the squad has a limitless skill ceiling, but it seems something still isn\u2019t clicking and it\u2019s an uphill battle for this squad to become legitimate contenders. 11. LA Guerrillas Close victory over Seattle may spell struggles? Featuring three of the four 2018 world champions, LA Guerrillas have some clear firepower on their team, but none of these guys have experienced much success of late. Apathy had a strong showing at the CDL Kickoff Classic, and him performing well could be key to their hopes of becoming true championship contenders. That said, there\u2019s some way to go for these guys to challenge the best. 10. Paris Legion Bizarre, but it just might work\u2026 For many fans, this Paris Legion squad doesn\u2019t make a whole lot of sense, a group of players that not many would have put together given the choice. That said, it doesn\u2019t seem as though they\u2019re struggling like some expected them to. They\u2019ve looked decent in scrims and clutched a 3-2 win over London Royal Ravens at the CDL Kickoff Classic. But we\u2019ll have to give them more time to really judge where they\u2019ll bed in. 9. New York Subliners ZooMaa\u2019s retirement could spell disaster New York Subliners were hit very late with the announcement of ZooMaa\u2019s retirement, as well as an ongoing battle to get French star HyDrA into the US thanks to visa issues. As such, the squad is hard to rank right now \u2014 but we expect them to improve over time and find themselves moving into the upper half of the rankings. 8. London Royal Ravens Zer0 chance of proving themselves without Trei London Royal Ravens are having a bit of a tough go of things right now, with Zer0 still stuck in the UK and seemingly unable to find a temporary replacement in the US to fill his spot. Read More: CDL 2021 Stage 1 groups announced – If they manage to get Zer0 out to the States and get some proper practice in, London could become a serious dark horse side. They lost a close 3-2 to Paris Legion at the Kickoff Classic, but it\u2019s hard to tell whether that\u2019s a fair appraisal of London\u2019s ability. 7. Toronto Ultra Huge dark horse potential in Toronto On paper, you wouldn\u2019t look at this Toronto Ultra squad and expect much from them, but they\u2019re all players who have flown under the radar despite proving their insane talents over the years. If the CDL Kickoff Classic was anything to go by, Bance is in for a serious year, and he could be the key to moving Toronto up the standings. 6. Minnesota R\u00d8KKR Similar to last season, the R\u00d8KKR look primed to cause some upsets at the opening events, and their close 3-2 win over Toronto Ultra suggests the \u2018Battle of the North\u2019 will rage on into this season as it did the last. These two teams look neck-and-neck, but R\u00d8KKR\u2019s win puts them ahead of the Ultra. While last year, the team slowly fizzled out as the season went on, the new roster has made some serious pickups. As a product, their strong start during the Kickoff Classic has put them in good stead. 5. LA Thieves Stealing top spot is possible for this squad LA Thieves had a rough go of things at the CDL Kickoff Classic, with a 3-0 loss to OpTic Chicago that really never looked to be going any other way. That said, they\u2019re full of talent and their fellow pros clearly rank them quite highly \u2014 we just need to see them get some competitive wins before we put them any closer to OpTic or Dallas in our rankings. 4. Florida Mutineers Can they be the best team in the game? Florida Mutineers suffered a horrendous setback prior to the 2021 season, starting with the sad and sudden loss of standout talent and person, F3ro. While a phenomenal player, Florida look set to make him proud this season, and could push themselves to enter the championship conversation if they continue to improve. A 3-2 win over Atlanta FaZe at the Kickoff Classic suggests that another potential frontrunner is on the cards. 3. Atlanta FaZe Rough start for world championship contenders Atlanta FaZe were perennial runners-up for much of the 2020 season, often considered the best team in the game\u2026 But when it came to the events that really mattered, they fell short at the final hurdle. Nonetheless, bringing over Arcitys from Chicago will no doubt elevate the Tiny Terrors, and they will continue to find themselves challenging top teams at each Major this season. Don\u2019t expect to see them losing too much this year, despite their loss to the Mutineers. 2. OpTic Chicago Forced to settle with 2nd\u2026 for now OpTic are back with H3CZ and Scump, and they\u2019re finding the results that the brand has become associated with over the last decade of CoD esports. They\u2019re natural winners and are going to continue to challenge at the top, just like they did last year as the Chicago Huntsmen. The inclusion of Dashy to the squad seems to be key to OpTic, and if he can find his Black Ops 4 form, we\u2019re looking at an MVP-caliber player. 1. Dallas Empire The Empire remain on top It would be impossible to put the Dallas Empire anywhere except first right now. They\u2019re the reigning world champions, are performing well in scrims and made short work of New York Subliners at the CDL Kickoff Classic. By all accounts, it looks like we should be preparing for another big year for Dallas \u2014 and these guys won\u2019t relinquish their hold on the top spot too easily. So, those are our pre-season power rankings for the Call of Duty League 2021 season. The likes of Dallas Empire and OpTic Chicago will likely hover near or at the top for much of the season, but it will be interesting to see which teams can become their closest competitors. The first official event of the 2021 season is the Atlanta FaZe Home Series on February 11-14, and that will be when teams really put their hard work over recent months into practice and prove how good they are.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Call of Duty League 2021 power rankings after CDL Kickoff Classic Call of Duty LeagueThe Call of Duty League is set to get underway very soon, with the CDL Kickoff Classic finished and teams showing what we can expect in the coming season. The return of the Call of Duty League means the return of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24333\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}