The season will be broken up into five Group Play stages, where the 12 league teams will compete in three Home Series before finishing the stage with a Major Tournament. Points will be awarded for each win throughout the season, as well as a team’s placement in the Majors at the end of each stage.
The top eight teams in points accrued after the fifth Group Play stage will be entered into the Playoffs for a chance to win the Call of Duty League Championship.
The official start date of the 2021 Call of Duty League season has yet to be announced.
Meanwhile, the 2020 League of Legends World Champion Damwon Gaming has announced a new partnership with Korean auto company Kia Motors. The multi-year deal will make Kia the official naming sponsor of the team, which will also begin changing its name to DWG KIA for the 2021 season. “From 2021, we plan to work together as DWG KIA and expand communication with MZ generation through various global contents,” Damwon tweeted. “We ask for your support and expectation from DWG KIA, which will take the lead in activating e-sports [sic] with the new team name!”
Elsewhere in the world of competitive gaming:
French Street Fighter Player Wins Fan Vote for Final Capcom Cup 2020 Slot
Capcom has announced French Street Fighter V player Olivier “Luffy” Hay as the winner of the Capcom Cup 2019 Fan Favorite vote. Hay won by nearly 10,000 votes, with Raphael “Zenith” Puglielli coming in second. The top five vote recipients are as follows:
Luffy: 35,149
Zenith: 26,966
Hajime “Tokido” Taniguchi: 11,161
Victor “Punk” Woodley: 10,132
Naoto “sako” Sako: 5,080
The distinction includes an invite to Capcom Cup 2020, which will be held in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic on Feb. 19-21.
Evil Geniuses 2021 ‘League of Legends’ Coaching Staff Revealed
With the 2021 League of Legends season quickly approaching, Evil Geniuses has announced its new coaching staff for the upcoming year. The team’s new head coach is Peter Dun, formerly of Mad Lions and Splyce, while Gabriel "Turtle" Peixoto and Brandon "Mash" Phan will serve with him as part of the League Championship Series-focused coaching staff. Connor “Artemis” Doyle, formerly an assistant coach, will now become the EG’s strategic coach, while former Team Liquid support player Matt Elento will head the organization’s Academy minor league team.
‘Super Smash Bros Melee’ Community Raises Over $300K For Charity
Two Super Smash Bros Melee events raised over $300,000 for multiple charities over the weekend. The Ludwig Ahgren Championship Series 3: Charity Edition tournament, won by longtime Melee pro Joseph Manuel “Mang0” Marquez, raised over $261,000 for Gamers for Love, a non-profit organization that provides games for distraction therapy in children’s hospitals. Meanwhile the Five Days of Melee campaign for Direct Relief netted just over $56,000 for Direct Relief, a charity focused on helping struggling families. The two events marked the end of the Super Smash Bros Melee competitive year, with no news on the game’s future in 2021.
Photo courtesy of Activision