This article is part of our Call of Duty series.
The biggest event of the Call of Duty competitive season, Call of Duty XP, is nearly upon us. Starting September 1, 32 teams from across the globe will compete for a chunk of the record-breaking $2 million prize pool, as well as the right to be named Call of Duty World Champions.
In order to win the coveted prizes, teams must first survive a best-of-five, round-robin gauntlet against their respective group opponents, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the double-elimination knockout portion of the bracket.
After going over who will advance out of Groups A-D, let's break down who will make it out of Groups E-H.
Group E
Teams: FaZe Clan, Team eLevate, Most Wanted, Giants Gaming
Advancing: FaZe Clan and Team eLevate
For all the success FaZe Clan had in last year's Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, it certainly hasn't translated to the newest iteration of the game. The unit led by James "Clayster" Eubanks hasn't been able to crack the upper echelon of the North American scene, despite playing together all year. Fourth-place finishes at both MLG Anaheim and MLG Orlando have helped ease unrest among fans, but it's fair to wonder whether another disappointing finish, this time at Call of Duty XP, could destabilize the team entirely. FaZe Clan should easily advance to the knockout portion of the event, and likely should be playing deep into the weekend, considering the level of talent on the roster. But unlike last year, FaZe Clan enters the big event in a muddled situation, and could be one poor performance away from roster upheaval.
While Team eLevate failed to make the Stage 2 playoffs, their second-place finish during MLG Anaheim and top-three finish at MLG Orlando has seemingly elevated them into North America's elite. Considering eLevate sports three players who competed in the Call of Duty World Championship finals last year, namely Ulysses "Aqua" Silva, Brice "Faccento" Faccento and Jared "Nagafen" Harrell, another run at the finals wouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. Considering the team's success in recent LAN tournaments, eLevate, who earned its spot through online qualifiers, could be a dark horse candidate at CoD XP.
Group F
Teams: Team Infused, Team Kaliber, Lethal Gaming, Tainted Minds
Advancing: Team Infused and Team Kaliber
As one of the top teams in the European region, Infused should be albe to handle its opposition in Group F fairly easily. Despite a ninth-12th place finish at MLG Orlando, Infused have seemingly always fared well during the group stage portion of events, posting a combined 6-0 record during the aforementioned MLG Orlando and MLG Anaheim group stage. It's been the lackluster play during elimination rounds that has doomed Infused, a problem that has reared its ugly head on many occasions this season. While a team like Tainted Minds or Team Kaliber could give Infused all they can handle, it would be shock to see one of the top European teams in the world fail to advance to the knockout portion of Call of Duty XP.
Speaking of Team Kaliber, the group led by Dylan "Theory" McGee suffered through a rather pedestrian second half of the season, as the team was relegated from the CWL after Stage 1. Team Kaliber brought onboard Coleman "ColeChan" Chancey and Nicholas "Happy" Suda to bolster the roster at MLG Orlando, to mixed results. Placed in arguably one of the most difficult groups of the tournament, Kaliber didn't take a game off either Luminosity Gaming or OpTic Gaming, but performed admirably during both series. If Kaliber can put together that same type of play during CoD XP, they might be able to stave off Tainted Minds, one of the top-tier teams from the Australia/New Zealand region.
Group G
Teams: Team EnVyUs, Team Orbit ANZ, Cloud9, Team Vitality
Advancing: Team EnVyUs and Cloud9
As one of the best teams in all of Call of Duty, Team EnVyUs should need no introduction. Some may have questioned the team's first place finish in the Stage 2 playoffs because they didn't have to face off against some of North America's top teams; however, they also proved themselves at MLG Orlando with another deep run. While EnVyUs lost to OpTic Gaming in the finals, they did reset the bracket before falling to them in the second and final series of the tournament. Led by 2015 World Champion Jordan "Jkap" Kaplan, EnVyUs will look for a shot at redemption and likely should be considered a contender to win the entire event.
Cloud9, on the other hand, will need to fight in order to make it out of Group G. Led by former Team EnVyUs slayer Patrick "ACHES" Price, the new-look Cloud9 roster advanced into CoD XP on the heels of a solid run through the North American online qualifiers. While the team is jam-packed with capable CWL pros, like Adam "Assault" Garcia and Andres "Lacefield" Lacefield, the rag-tag group of players hasn't had much time to practice with one another, leaving them vulnerable to an upset. If the team can gel, they should be able to surpass a talented Team Orbit ANZ en route to the knockout stages.
Group H
Teams: OpTic Gaming, compLexity Gaming, PNDA Gaming, Team LDLC
Advancing: OpTic Gaming and compLexity Gaming
OpTic Gaming enter Call of Duty XP as the prohibitive favorites to win the entire event, as the team's reign throughout Call of Duty: Black Ops III has been nothing short of dominant. An opening round loss to Luminosity Gaming in the Stage 2 playoffs only seemed to reenergize the squad, as OpTic Gaming went on to win MLG Orlando, losing just one series the entire tournament. However, any talk about winning CoD XP must first be prefaced with the fact that OpTic Gaming have never won the World Championship before, finishing in third-place in 2013 and 2014, and a disappointing seventh place finish in 2015. While the Green Wall should be contenders heading into the weekend, history has shown us that anything can happen when it comes to OpTic Gaming at the World Championship.
Yet another team to reconfigure its roster prior to the North American online qualifiers, compLexity Gaming enter CoD XP with an interesting roster comprised of Colt "Havok" McLendon, Devin "Llama" Tran, Mike "Swarley" and the mercurial Christopher "Parasite" Duarte. While the focus will be, deservedly so, on Parasite, who announced his retirement late in July only to come back to play one week later at MLG Orlando, the real player to watch out for may very well be Havok. The versatile Havok posted a 1.12 KD during Stage 2 with Cloud9, tying for fifth overall in the North American region, and provides option value for compLexity because he is capable of slaying or sniping. If the team can gel and fight through the inevitable stress and frustrations that come with participating in the biggest Call of Duty event of the year, compLexity Gaming should find themselves competing in the knockout stages of the event.
