Call of Duty League 2023 Preview
Banned Items and Gentleman's Agreements

It’s a new year, and that means it’s a new season of the 2023 Call of Duty League!
Twelve teams are competing for glory and prestige. They will also hope to knock out the Los Angeles Thieves, the CoD franchise owned by 100 Thieves, who took the trophy by beating the great Atlanta FaZe in the grand final.
The current esports season started after releasing of the newest installment of the Call of Duty franchise, Modern Warfare 2. As a result, the players had two weeks of online qualifiers to get acquainted with the game before the first Major in December; as well as the New York Subliners took home the prize in the first Major after beating Atlanta FaZe, who Seattle Surge also knocked out.
Call of Duty League 2023 Schedule
Major one looked different from the rest of the Majors, as 16 teams were participating. The change in teams was due to the addition of a Pro-Am aspect of this event. The Pro-Am saw the top four amateur teams join the 12 pro teams and battle it out for their chance at the $500,000 prize pool.
Here are all the Majors, along with the dates and who will host the events:
December 2 – 11 | Online Qualifiers |
December 15 – 18 | LAN Tournament |
January 13 – 29 | Online Qualifiers |
February 2 – 5 | LAN Tournament |
February 17 – March 5 | Online Qualifiers |
March 9 – 12 | LAN Tournament |
March 24 – April 9 | Online Qualifiers |
April 13 – 16 | LAN Tournament |
May 5 – 21 | Online Qualifiers |
May 25 – 28 | LAN Tournament |
2023 Call of Duty League Championship Weekend dates has yet to be revealed. The Championship Weekend generally takes place in the first week of August; however, with the League starting earlier this year, we may see this pushed forward to July or even June.
Maps and Modes
Three modes known and loved by the competitive 2023 Call of Duty League community return for the 2023 Modern Warfare 2 season. In addition, teams will compete in the best-of-five series of Hardpoint, Search and Destroy, and Control.
The map pool is as follows.
Maps and Modes
Hardpoint: Al Bagra Fortress, Breenburgh Hotel, Embassy, Mercado Las Almas, Zarqwa Hydroelectric
Search and Destroy: Al Bagra Fortress, Breenburgh Hotel, El Asilo, Embassy, Mercado Las Almas Control: Al Bagra Fortress, Breenburgh Hotel, El Asilo
Banned Items and Gentleman’s Agreements
If you’re part of the competitive Call of Duty community, you will have heard of a Gentlemen’s Agreement. Gentleman’s Agreement (GA) is an unofficial banning of a weapon or item as agreed upon by all or a majority of the 12 teams in the 2023 Call of Duty League.
This means that while the League does not restrict it, the pro players believe the game will play better without it, so they agree not to use it.
We saw a GA happen in the first week of Modern Warfare 2’s release, with the Kastov-74u quickly being seen as the best weapon in the game, and thus was the first name on the GA list.
Shortly after, the STB 556 and Fennec 45 joined the Kastov-74u, along with Flash and Smoke Grenades.
Sniper Rifles are limited to one in Search and Destroy only, and there is a long list of attachments that have also been GA by the players.
The 2023 Call of Duty League has dealt with the rest of the banning, completely restricting many items within the game. Almost every Perk, Field Upgrade, Scorestreak, Lethal, and Tactical, along with many classes of weapons, will be limited.
Participating Teams
Everyone from the 2022 Call of Duty League season is returning for the new season. There is one major change with Paris Legion relocating to Las Vegas. Atlanta FaZe will look to regain their title after a slow start, and LA Thieves hope to hold onto their title.
Here are all twelves teams, their starting rosters, and their esports odds to win it all:
aBeZy | Cellium |
Simp | SlasheR |
Methodz | Nero |
Vivid | Owakening |
MajorManiak | Havok |
Brack | Vikul |
Clayster | Temp |
Prolute | TJHaly |
Zer0 | Nastie |
PaulEhx | Asim |
Arcitys | Huke |
Neptune | Spart |
Kenny | Drazah |
Octane | Envoy |
Attach | Bance |
Cammy | Afro |
Kismet | Hydra |
Skyz | Priestahh |
Scump | Dashy |
Shotzzy | iLLeY |
Accuracy | Sib |
Pred | Mack |
Insight | CleanX |
Scrappy | Standy |
Teams to Watch
For the last few years, the Atlanta FaZe and LA Thieves have been the best Call of Duty League teams in the world. FaZe has dominated every Major and has kept their squad together during this time.
However, new teams are coming into the fold and looking to knock them off the pedestal.
The teams esports bettors need to watch this Call of Duty League season are: Seattle Surge and OpTic Texas. Here are esports betting tips for bettors and new fans of COD esports!
Seattle Surge
After finishing third at the Call of Duty League Championship last month, the Surge announced today the return of its CDL roster for next season. The foursome of Accuracy, Mack, Sib, and CDL Rookie of the Year Pred will attempt to build on the best season in Seattle’s franchise history in 2023.
With the return of the team’s rookie duo of Sib and Pred, in addition to CDL veterans Accuracy and Mack, Seattle seems poised for another strong season.
Despite their relative youth and inexperience in the top CoD league, Pred and Sib proved to be more than ready for the spotlight, evident by their selections to the 2022 CDL All-Star teams.
OpTic Texas
OpTic Texas is always an interesting team in the 2023 Call of Duty League. For a long while, they were considered one of the top teams, along with FaZe and LA Thieves.
However, recently, they have fallen out of the top and surrounded themselves with a bit of drama and controversy.
Despite that, they still performed well enough in the previous Major and are looking to recapture their form. The roster from last season is the same despite two players declaring free agency, so hopefully, they can get over the drama and play to their true potential.
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