We’re two weeks from the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II which means pros and amateurs are already prepping for their grind. With the 2023 season rapidly approaching, we wanted to give an update on some adjustments and improvements we’ve made for Call of Duty Challengers.
2023 Challengers Season
Ladders have been removed as we look to eliminate barriers of entry from players being required to play matches every week during the Season. All double elimination brackets will be determined by a Bo7 instead of two Bo5’s to align with the Call of Duty League.
Cups
Cups are back for all four regions. These opens events are a chance for players to earn prizing & Challenger points during online weekend tournaments. The first Cup of the 2022 Challengers Season takes place on Nov 12-13, 2022. The full schedule is available here.
Opens
The first Challengers Open of the 2023 season is scheduled to take place in Raleigh, NC from Dec. 16-18.
There will be online Regional Qualifiers hosted on Dec. 3-4, 2022 to determine which eight teams (3 NA, 3 EU, 1 APAC, and 1 LATAM) will be provided Hotel & Travel and a chance to compete against the CDL Teams at Major 1.
Teams that don’t qualify for Major I Bracket will still be able to battle in the Open and make a name for themselves by being seeded into the Top 32 portion of the Open. The Open bracket will be reseeded at Top 32 based upon your position in the initial bracket.
Challengers Elite
Challengers Elite in North America & Europe has been expanded to twelve teams (two groups of 6) with the top eight teams keeping their spot after each season. We believe this expansion of Challengers Elite will help grow talent and increase participation in each region.
Challengers Elite Teams will not be allowed to participate in Cups falling upon the first week of their Challengers Elite Season and will be provided points & prizing instead. We want to ensure that teams outside of Elite are still given the opportunity to showcase their talents and earn points & prizing throughout the season.
Challengers Finals
Challengers Finals is the pinnacle of global competitive amateur competition for Call of Duty Esports, and we want to ensure that all regions are represented fairly.
Number of Teams
Challengers Finals is expanding to 16 Teams with Hotel & Travel being provided for all competitors.
Qualification
Another key change going into 2023 is how teams will qualify for Challengers Finals. There will be three methods by which a Challengers team can qualify for the Finals
- Regional Leaderboard: 10 Teams (4 NA, 4 EU, 1 APAC, and 1 LATAM)
- We believe that it’s important to have all regions represented and that’s why we are moving towards regional leaderboards for qualification
- Final Open: Top 2 Teams
- The last Open event of the season will have two auto-qualification spots on the line which means any team regardless of their Challengers Points will have a chance to qualify for the Challengers Finals. This change will also help differentiate the number of Teams that qualify from each region.
- Last Chance Qualifier: 1 Team from Each Region
- Just like last year, we will have a LCQ for each region to make a last bid for Finals
Challengers Points
Going into 2023 we smoothed the curve regarding how many points teams receive for Cups & Opens ensuring that teams are rewarded for consistent placement throughout the season.
A breakdown of all the points is available in the rules here.
Call of Duty League Updates Coming Soon
Announcements and updates on the Call of Duty League 2023 season are coming soon so stay tuned and subscribe for official Call of Duty League emails.
