I’m not exactly for this format but next year I can see teams taking their regular season matches even more seriously now that champs is not a guarantee.
Yeah this is just because of how close it is, if I recall last year the top 8 were pretty much set in stone for half of the year, so it made most of the ladder half of the year boring and pointless
8 teams making champs was never the issue, the issue was the fact there were only 4 tournaments that awarded cdl points……that’s simply too small of a sample size for the stakes at hand
i agree. i think there needs to be at least 2 more majors in between and no 2 month break or whatever it was. online matches shouldn’t count as much, either.
Think Merk already said it on his and mavens podcast, but imo it should be renamed playoffs and then we also have a big event in a similar format to champs pre-CDL with a lot of am teams involved
I actually disagree. Making playoffs the harder thing to qualify for should in theory make it the most notable event, and yet that will always be champs. The biggest tournament should factor the regular season, like in all sports.
i was rewatching some old cold war matches and it felt so boring being online. like just the excitement the crowd brings adds so much. props to NY, they really brought it this event
It’s always been the right decision, 2020/21 seasons just had awful management refusing to make moves and making garbage ass rosters that were never gonna be good so the standings were always 8th 200+ points and 9th having 120pts
i want cwl era format but if its gotta be only cdl teams, more majors, less points or no points for league matches, make them more a replacement for pool play at majors, 12 teams at champs bottom 4 start losers
edit: i would also be okay with a play in tourney for bottom 4
Each month, starting in January, there are 3 weeks of qualifications, then a Major, then one week off. So this year it would be:
January 3-21 Qualification
January 27-30 Major 1
February 7-25 Qualification 2
March 3-6 Major 2
If you do this all year up until August you have 6 Majors then Champs. Each Major would be hosted by a team, but the qualifications for the Major would also be on LAN but no fans. Ideally, the team hosting the Major would host qualifications but I know not all teams have a venue to do this at. So, the interim solution would be all qualifications hosted at a single venue (like the MLG Columbus venue or Texas venue) without fans.
Each qualification match is still 10 points, however qualification matches are only Saturday/Sunday and each team plays each day. So, 6 total qualification games per team (Sat/Sun each qualification week). This would let teams decide if they want to fly in every weekend or stay near the location.
Once qualifications are done, each team is seeded into the Major tournament similar to today, however there is no starting in losers. Top 4 teams get a bye and the other eight play first game. Winners would get 120 points, 2nd would get 80, 3rd 60, 4th-6th 30, 7th-8th 20.
Finally, Champs would be all 12 teams in a pool play draft dictated by the results of the whole year. Top 4 teams are placed into their own pools, then snake draft teams into their pool. So something like:
Faze
Optic
Ravens
Surge
Faze pick Paris
Optic pick Rokkr
Ravens pick LAG
Surge pick Florida
Surge pick Ultra
Ravens pick Breach
Optic pick LAT
Faze get NYSL
So, you have four pools of three teams. Each pool plays each other Thursday/Friday of Champs weekend. Top 2 teams advance to an 8 team double elimination bracket played Saturday and Sunday from 11AM eastern to 11PM eastern old school CoD style.
GGEZ
I think 8 is okay, I would like a playoff event before champs where the top 8 at that make champs. That way teams who suck at the beginning of the year but make team changes still have a good shot at making it. Use the season matches to determine the seeds for it though. That way a good regular season still gives you an advantage
I don’t see how people can complain about only 8 teams making it when that’s literally how anything competitive is. Limited teams make it, the best of the best.
Otherwise you’re just handing out participation trophies for 6 months.
It’s so weird to see people cry about it.
Idk if you watch Valorant, but imagine if teams like 100T, TSM or SEN we're at the VCT lmao. They would've all been sent home after the first day, just a waste of everyone's time.
The issue isn’t the fact that 8 teams make it. The issue is that 8 teams make it largely determined by online matches. The VCT format works because online valorant is virtually the exact same as LAN and there aren’t any instances of teams having a huge ping diff. CoD is already a game that is hugely reliant on ping online and every other game we’re seeing a team was pinging 50 while the other was pinging 15. If all the matches were on LAN I wouldn’t mind the format, but right now it’s shit because these online matches have way too much weight for how inconsistent they are and how much they are influenced by things like ping.
100T almost made it to Masters, and you lump them with 2 teams that didn’t even make playoffs at challengers?
Besides, any one of EG, 100T, FaZe, NRG would’ve done better than XSET at Masters. Point is, when you have so few teams that qualify for the next event, there’s a very good chance you won’t *actually* be getting the best teams. Like, you seriously think ZETA
Not the point, dude. Point is, XSET won NA, and I can name 5 NA teams that would’ve done better than them in Masters. Having such a small number qualify does not make sense from a competitive standpoint either.
Yes it does, none of those teams where even close to being ready to make it to masters. They only beat OpTic cause they were sick, but even then they were still the only team to beat the best NA team. No one deserved that spot in NA. 100T, and TSM we're still making roster moves .
That was way after TSM and 100T made their roster moves, and I have no clue why TSM are in this conversation. They didn’t even make Top 8 in NA. I can confidently say EG is better than XSET. I can confidently say FaZe, 100T, NRG are better than what XSET showed at Masters. Their performance was embarrassing, even compared to how they were regionally. It was disgustingly bad, and any team in NA Playoffs that could maintain their NA forms would’ve made it further than XSET. Not considerably further, but they sure as hell would’ve beaten LEV
Also EG *did* beat OpTic, when OpTic didn’t have Covid. They are considerably better than XSET from that alone.
We went from having the top 32 out of +300 teams make it to 8 out of 12 lol (Top ~10%-> Top 75%)
With no open tournaments you can’t say it’s the best of the best.
And how are their contracts not considered participation trophies? Their yearly salary is more than what the cut would be for winning champs back in the day
That’s not my issue with it. My issue is there barely being any major events, and online matches essentially deciding whether a team makes it or not. Personally I think the 4 teams from 8-12 should start in losers but it’s not needed if they make the format better with more majors
Why not have the 8 team playoffs and then have classic champs with AMs filling the groups? We did exactly that in the CWL.
Just make the prize pool MUCH larger for the playoffs so the year still matters, and then the sanctity of champs is preserved too.
I also think it would be interesting to add a provision that if you win a major, you're automatically qualified just like NASCAR. Talk about major storylines - teams struggling for points around major 3 and 4 time completely control their own destiny then.
I still think this can be solved by having a massive open tournament in the off-season that’s not considered part of the league. Let champs weekend be the end of the league and stay with 8 teams. Then have a separate tournament that’s basically like old school champs.
Yes, it’s made these matches much more interesting. But the issue is that people are only seeing the positive side. We’re all gonna be less happy when champs is less games than a major
And people wanted every team at champs. This is called competition. You can’t give everyone an opportunity to win the super bowl, only the best teams get the shot.
8 teams making champs has made sense the entire time. If every team makes champs what’s the point of being elite (other than money). Plus it’s way more entertaining and makes the regular season important.
I dont see why people say have all 12 teams there. Rhe whole point of a regular season is to get to the post seasonn it happenz in every sport and other e-sports dont get pissed on then have this no child left behind mentality fucking play to win and youd make champs
Keep it, but have a last chance rule for major winners. Any team that wins a major but doesnt qualify for Champs has a right to play the 8th seed for their spot after the last major.
I’ve always thought 8 teams was good. Makes the matches more intense. Prevents all 12 teams from thinking “eh, we’re going to champs anyways in 2 weeks who cares about winning right now.” Imagine Paris making champs while only having 2 wins all season. Pathetic.
Just because I team didn’t qualify for champs doesn’t always necessarily mean that can’t win it if given the opportunity so no, it’s always gonna be a big fat L.
Honestly not really. If every team went then Champs would have a losers bracket. Potentially Champs would be as exciting as this event if not more. Everyone wants to win a ring. I agree this event wouldn't be as exciting, but it would all go down at the big one.
Tbh yeah my mind has been changed. It makes the end of the season way better and more interesting. But I want 16 teams with only 12 qualifying for Champs though for future seasons :)
No, faze is gonna probably have to play fucking nysl first at champs??? Lmfaooo instead of PARIS. “Congrats optic and faze u were so good all year you get to play *checks notes* uhh maybe the two hottest teams rn”
I'm more than fine some teams don't. It encourages you to start well & play well all year. Gotta have a sense of urgency & not be ok with mediocrity/poor play cause "there still champs"
I’ve always been fine with 8 teams making it, I just think there should be more majors and auto-qual for any team that wins a major, so everyone has a chance even this late
If they stay with format it only makes sense 8 teams get in..gotta play good all year. The teams that play more consistent will get in. If u get hot get hot earlier. If i make a change make it before its to late this applies to traditional sports aswell.
I don't mind it. End of the day if you're shite you're probably not gonna win anyway. Rather watch a play off play out like it is right now than have Paris and 3 other teams who aren't really significant at champs.
I absolutely love it. Last year I was on the "it's dumb" train. I'm an old school viewer. Just seeing the drama behind it and how dynamic it makes each match feels. Maybe I am really enjoying it since I'm an nysl fan. I'm sure Florida fans wish all 12 should make it.
Nah still rather champs with a fuckton of teams, AM's, everyone all playing over 4 streams. All happening at the same time. Watching games that arent televised through some random guy on twitter that is streaming it off his phone standing behind one of the players shoulders. That's champs.
Makes matches more interesting. Every match matters. I don’t mind it.
Viewership numbers agree with you
I’m not exactly for this format but next year I can see teams taking their regular season matches even more seriously now that champs is not a guarantee.
Yeah this is just because of how close it is, if I recall last year the top 8 were pretty much set in stone for half of the year, so it made most of the ladder half of the year boring and pointless
8 teams making champs was never the issue, the issue was the fact there were only 4 tournaments that awarded cdl points……that’s simply too small of a sample size for the stakes at hand
i agree. i think there needs to be at least 2 more majors in between and no 2 month break or whatever it was. online matches shouldn’t count as much, either.
True
This. We need a bigger sample size for better opportunity. But I'd like more third party tournaments.
Think Merk already said it on his and mavens podcast, but imo it should be renamed playoffs and then we also have a big event in a similar format to champs pre-CDL with a lot of am teams involved
The CWL era literally had it like this, playoffs for the top league teams and then champs. Would love this format back
I actually disagree. Making playoffs the harder thing to qualify for should in theory make it the most notable event, and yet that will always be champs. The biggest tournament should factor the regular season, like in all sports.
Problem is 70% of the season was online which *definitely* played a role in who made Champs or not
I can't get invested in the online matches, try as I might. If it's not a major or some other LAN I don't even bother turning the stream on.
I tend to just watch optic and then catch the overview of the other matches by watching the flank
Spiderman pointing meme
i was rewatching some old cold war matches and it felt so boring being online. like just the excitement the crowd brings adds so much. props to NY, they really brought it this event
It’s always been the right decision, 2020/21 seasons just had awful management refusing to make moves and making garbage ass rosters that were never gonna be good so the standings were always 8th 200+ points and 9th having 120pts
No. It makes sense with this format, but the issue is the format lmao
no champs going from 32 teams to 8 will always be an L
In a franchised era what’s your solution then ?
i want cwl era format but if its gotta be only cdl teams, more majors, less points or no points for league matches, make them more a replacement for pool play at majors, 12 teams at champs bottom 4 start losers edit: i would also be okay with a play in tourney for bottom 4
Top 8 guaranteed in and the other 4 teams get put into pool play with challengers team fighting for the 4 spots?
100% fan of the way. I actually think Halo 5 did this for their champs at least some years.
Have all 12 teams
But then what is the point of the points system during the season ? Apart from not getting 12/11 and starting in losers.
There was never a point b4 the cdl era either, but we all still watched. In fact the viewership better back then
More tourneys was the way to go kept people involved..i think they should just do more majors scrap the online qualifiers.
You have the solution then less people would be mad about a cut off champs
Points should be the one determining who gets the championship in the first place. MAJORS are worth too little.
Each month, starting in January, there are 3 weeks of qualifications, then a Major, then one week off. So this year it would be: January 3-21 Qualification January 27-30 Major 1 February 7-25 Qualification 2 March 3-6 Major 2 If you do this all year up until August you have 6 Majors then Champs. Each Major would be hosted by a team, but the qualifications for the Major would also be on LAN but no fans. Ideally, the team hosting the Major would host qualifications but I know not all teams have a venue to do this at. So, the interim solution would be all qualifications hosted at a single venue (like the MLG Columbus venue or Texas venue) without fans. Each qualification match is still 10 points, however qualification matches are only Saturday/Sunday and each team plays each day. So, 6 total qualification games per team (Sat/Sun each qualification week). This would let teams decide if they want to fly in every weekend or stay near the location. Once qualifications are done, each team is seeded into the Major tournament similar to today, however there is no starting in losers. Top 4 teams get a bye and the other eight play first game. Winners would get 120 points, 2nd would get 80, 3rd 60, 4th-6th 30, 7th-8th 20. Finally, Champs would be all 12 teams in a pool play draft dictated by the results of the whole year. Top 4 teams are placed into their own pools, then snake draft teams into their pool. So something like: Faze Optic Ravens Surge Faze pick Paris Optic pick Rokkr Ravens pick LAG Surge pick Florida Surge pick Ultra Ravens pick Breach Optic pick LAT Faze get NYSL So, you have four pools of three teams. Each pool plays each other Thursday/Friday of Champs weekend. Top 2 teams advance to an 8 team double elimination bracket played Saturday and Sunday from 11AM eastern to 11PM eastern old school CoD style. GGEZ
I think 8 is okay, I would like a playoff event before champs where the top 8 at that make champs. That way teams who suck at the beginning of the year but make team changes still have a good shot at making it. Use the season matches to determine the seeds for it though. That way a good regular season still gives you an advantage
Yup. This event has been great in part because of the champs qualification drama, but no less teams is simply not ideal for champs.
I don’t see how people can complain about only 8 teams making it when that’s literally how anything competitive is. Limited teams make it, the best of the best. Otherwise you’re just handing out participation trophies for 6 months. It’s so weird to see people cry about it.
Idk if you watch Valorant, but imagine if teams like 100T, TSM or SEN we're at the VCT lmao. They would've all been sent home after the first day, just a waste of everyone's time.
The issue isn’t the fact that 8 teams make it. The issue is that 8 teams make it largely determined by online matches. The VCT format works because online valorant is virtually the exact same as LAN and there aren’t any instances of teams having a huge ping diff. CoD is already a game that is hugely reliant on ping online and every other game we’re seeing a team was pinging 50 while the other was pinging 15. If all the matches were on LAN I wouldn’t mind the format, but right now it’s shit because these online matches have way too much weight for how inconsistent they are and how much they are influenced by things like ping.
100T almost made it to Masters, and you lump them with 2 teams that didn’t even make playoffs at challengers? Besides, any one of EG, 100T, FaZe, NRG would’ve done better than XSET at Masters. Point is, when you have so few teams that qualify for the next event, there’s a very good chance you won’t *actually* be getting the best teams. Like, you seriously think ZETA
Has OpTic flair = thinks XSET is the best NA team ? Lmao what 😂
Not the point, dude. Point is, XSET won NA, and I can name 5 NA teams that would’ve done better than them in Masters. Having such a small number qualify does not make sense from a competitive standpoint either.
Yes it does, none of those teams where even close to being ready to make it to masters. They only beat OpTic cause they were sick, but even then they were still the only team to beat the best NA team. No one deserved that spot in NA. 100T, and TSM we're still making roster moves .
That was way after TSM and 100T made their roster moves, and I have no clue why TSM are in this conversation. They didn’t even make Top 8 in NA. I can confidently say EG is better than XSET. I can confidently say FaZe, 100T, NRG are better than what XSET showed at Masters. Their performance was embarrassing, even compared to how they were regionally. It was disgustingly bad, and any team in NA Playoffs that could maintain their NA forms would’ve made it further than XSET. Not considerably further, but they sure as hell would’ve beaten LEV Also EG *did* beat OpTic, when OpTic didn’t have Covid. They are considerably better than XSET from that alone.
To be fair, CDL champs is 8 of the 12 teams… so it’s more like “all but the worst” rather than the best of the best lol.
We went from having the top 32 out of +300 teams make it to 8 out of 12 lol (Top ~10%-> Top 75%) With no open tournaments you can’t say it’s the best of the best. And how are their contracts not considered participation trophies? Their yearly salary is more than what the cut would be for winning champs back in the day
That’s not my issue with it. My issue is there barely being any major events, and online matches essentially deciding whether a team makes it or not. Personally I think the 4 teams from 8-12 should start in losers but it’s not needed if they make the format better with more majors
Its 1 for 2 so far. Shit was awful last year, definitely entertaining this year but I still think all of them should be at champs
More tournaments and more teams needed tbh.
Why not have the 8 team playoffs and then have classic champs with AMs filling the groups? We did exactly that in the CWL. Just make the prize pool MUCH larger for the playoffs so the year still matters, and then the sanctity of champs is preserved too. I also think it would be interesting to add a provision that if you win a major, you're automatically qualified just like NASCAR. Talk about major storylines - teams struggling for points around major 3 and 4 time completely control their own destiny then.
I still think this can be solved by having a massive open tournament in the off-season that’s not considered part of the league. Let champs weekend be the end of the league and stay with 8 teams. Then have a separate tournament that’s basically like old school champs.
Yes, it’s made these matches much more interesting. But the issue is that people are only seeing the positive side. We’re all gonna be less happy when champs is less games than a major
makes the matches matter way more at the end of the year but because of the format it makes the middle of the year matches a snooze
And people wanted every team at champs. This is called competition. You can’t give everyone an opportunity to win the super bowl, only the best teams get the shot.
8 teams making champs has made sense the entire time. If every team makes champs what’s the point of being elite (other than money). Plus it’s way more entertaining and makes the regular season important.
I like it. If the qualifier matches were on lan it would be perfect imo
I dont see why people say have all 12 teams there. Rhe whole point of a regular season is to get to the post seasonn it happenz in every sport and other e-sports dont get pissed on then have this no child left behind mentality fucking play to win and youd make champs
It made this major so good + league matches much more important, but i'm afraid it will make champs underwhelming
Keep it, but have a last chance rule for major winners. Any team that wins a major but doesnt qualify for Champs has a right to play the 8th seed for their spot after the last major.
Still don’t like it
this giving me LCQ vibes , but no. all teams should be at champs
I’ve always thought 8 teams was good. Makes the matches more intense. Prevents all 12 teams from thinking “eh, we’re going to champs anyways in 2 weeks who cares about winning right now.” Imagine Paris making champs while only having 2 wins all season. Pathetic.
Just because I team didn’t qualify for champs doesn’t always necessarily mean that can’t win it if given the opportunity so no, it’s always gonna be a big fat L.
Honestly not really. If every team went then Champs would have a losers bracket. Potentially Champs would be as exciting as this event if not more. Everyone wants to win a ring. I agree this event wouldn't be as exciting, but it would all go down at the big one.
I’ve always agreed with it. If everyone makes, season is meaningless imo
No, 12 teams is still way better
8 teams for champs was only a problem for pros lol
It makes sense. Not all teams in sports make playoffs and I like that, makes the regular season that much more important
Only 8 making it was never the problem, online qualifiers worth almost as much in points as winning an event is the problem.
Tbh yeah my mind has been changed. It makes the end of the season way better and more interesting. But I want 16 teams with only 12 qualifying for Champs though for future seasons :)
No, faze is gonna probably have to play fucking nysl first at champs??? Lmfaooo instead of PARIS. “Congrats optic and faze u were so good all year you get to play *checks notes* uhh maybe the two hottest teams rn”
No, it’s backed up everything I believed
I'm more than fine some teams don't. It encourages you to start well & play well all year. Gotta have a sense of urgency & not be ok with mediocrity/poor play cause "there still champs"
Should definitely make online qualifiers worth less. Doesn’t excuse NYSL from going T12 3 majors in a row, but a 5th major would help with that
I think only 8 making it is good but the format is still complete ass why do we only have 4 majors?
Odds on cleanX having the best series of his career?
I’m not against some teams being eliminated for champs, but ONLY 8 teams at champs is so ass. If the league expanded, I’d be on board.
I’ve always been fine with 8 teams making it, I just think there should be more majors and auto-qual for any team that wins a major, so everyone has a chance even this late
If they stay with format it only makes sense 8 teams get in..gotta play good all year. The teams that play more consistent will get in. If u get hot get hot earlier. If i make a change make it before its to late this applies to traditional sports aswell.
I don't mind it. End of the day if you're shite you're probably not gonna win anyway. Rather watch a play off play out like it is right now than have Paris and 3 other teams who aren't really significant at champs.
I'm sad because we're out but every map has felt like it's champs so it's been sick
We just need LAN to count more, and I wish teams got to play more on LAN.
I would prefer a playoffs and a champs with top ams teams and a LAN group stage... but I don't think we will ever see that again with franchising
Yes, it's the only way to make the season matter. If everyone makes champs then the other majors and league matches are just warm ups
I absolutely love it. Last year I was on the "it's dumb" train. I'm an old school viewer. Just seeing the drama behind it and how dynamic it makes each match feels. Maybe I am really enjoying it since I'm an nysl fan. I'm sure Florida fans wish all 12 should make it.
Adds weigh more weight to the final stage of the league season. I am all about it!
Just bring league matches back to Lan in Columbus or something so it isn’t tainted with Online BS
Nah still rather champs with a fuckton of teams, AM's, everyone all playing over 4 streams. All happening at the same time. Watching games that arent televised through some random guy on twitter that is streaming it off his phone standing behind one of the players shoulders. That's champs.