The 2018 CWL Pro League Stage 2 comes to MLG Arena in Columbus

2018 CWL Pro League Stage 2 is a professional Call of Duty offline competition organized by MLG, Activision and Sledgehammer Games. It has a regular season in which 16 teams are split into two identical divisions where they play in a double round-robin format. The goal is to qualify for the playoffs, and only four teams from each division survive the group stage.

Prizes are awarded to all participating teams, even those who don’t make it through the group stage.

The top eight Call of Duty teams that make it to the playoffs compete for the extra $500,000 prize pool. They play in a double elimination bracket in Capture the Flag games on Ardennes Forest, Flak Tower, London Docks. Ardennes Forest, Gibraltar, London Docks, Saint Marie Du Mont, Valkyrie are Hardpoint maps. Forest, London Docks, Saint Marie Du Mont, USS Texas, Valkyrie are reserved to Search and Destroy.

2018 CWL Pro League Stage 2 Starts on May 15

The tournament begins on May 15th and it will feature the best 16 teams in the world. Organizers are yet to announce the broadcast talent catering for international audiences. 2018 CWL Pro League Stage 1 had seven streamers for English, four for Spanish, three for French and two for German. The official prizes were recently unveiled, with the winning team to claim a massive $212,500, while the runner-up will be rewarded with $132,500. The third-place gets $92,500 and the fourth is awarded $52,500.

The cash prizes are the biggest awarded in Call of Duty tournaments and make the 2018 CWL Pro League Stage 2 an important milestone for this year. Equally important are the Pro Points Series, with more than 170,000 awarded to the top teams. Winners get the lion’s share of 40,000 points, the runners up will receive 35,000 points and the players in third get 30,000 points. 25,000 Pro Points Series are reserved to the fourth place while the teams in fifth and sixth place receive 22,500. Finally, 20,000 points are reserved to the teams who finish the tournament in the seventh and eighth places.

FaZe Clan and OpTic Gaming are the Big Favorites

Not surprisingly for a tournament hosted by the MLG Arena in Columbus, 2018 CWL Pro League Stage 2 is dominated by American teams. Out of 16 participants, 10 are from the US and the list includes Rise Nation, OpTic Gaming, Team Kaliber, Echo Fox, compLexity Gaming, FaZe Clan, Luminosity Gaming, Team EnVyUs, eUnited and Evil Geniuses. England is represented by three teams: UNILAD, Epsilon eSports, Splyce and Red Reserve while Australian players root for Mindfreak and Tainted Minds.

FaZe Clan are the reigning champions and among the favorites to win the 2018 CWL Pro League Stage 2. Their victory in April over OpTic Gaming brought them the coveted 40,000 points and the six digit amount. They have the same roster for this competition, while the runners up strengthen their team with Methods and Octane. Red Reserve was the best placed non-US team at the previous edition, finishing in the fifth place. They have signed Skrapz as a new player to improve their chances at the Columbus event.