CDL 2025 Preview: The Three Juggernauts

It’s been a long off-season, but The Call of Duty League’s annual makeover is complete. New organizations, new rosters, and a new game made for a monumental reset. Fresh faces will clash with the established juggernauts of the game. Will anyone be capable of knocking the giants off their spot as the top names in the game? There’s only one way to find out. 

Every conversation about the league starts with the three superteams lording over the preseason power rankings. First up, there’s the reigning World Champions. OpTic Texas returns with all four members of last year’s squad. Expectations soared when this roster came together in the Modern Warfare 3 offseason, and the guys in green lived up to the hype in every way. 

No player was more important to OpTic’s success than Kenny. Fresh off a disappointing Modern Warfare II season with the LA Thieves, Call of Duty’s premier shotcaller was scrutinized perhaps more than anyone in the league. The pressure only made him sharper. His leadership — combined with a new level of selfless play from Dashy, and the ultra-explosive SMG power of Pred and Shotzzy — set the standard for excellence in Modern Warfare 3. However, the playing field has shifted, and no team has won back-to-back World Championships in Call of Duty history. With a bigger target than ever on their back, it’s up to the four superstars to find yet another gear to shift into. That’s easier said than done when two other teams will be laying roadblocks all season.

For Atlanta FaZe, this year could mean everything. The core trio of Simp, aBeZy, and Cellium are now three seasons removed from their World Championship in Black Ops Cold War. Adding Drazah to their lineup ahead of Modern Warfare 3 was supposed to be the step that ended their drought. Dominant regular season after dominant regular season has kept them in the driver’s seat of the standings in all five years of CDL’s existence, but the magic they found in BOCW has eluded them at every Champs since then. A crushing sixth-place finish last season had many wondering if a fourth roster change in as many seasons was on the horizon. However, a scorching hot run at the Esports World Cup reminded the world this team is still a force to be reckoned with. This could be the year to reset their narrative. If they’re going to strike, it needs to start with Cellium. He was the best player in the world in Black Ops Cold War. Finding the same form in Black Ops 6 could propel Atlanta FaZe to another dynastic season. 

Over on the West Coast, it wasn’t just another run-of-the-mill earthquake shaking up Los Angeles county this offseason. The LA Thieves sent shockwaves through the entire CDL when they cleared house in order to make room for three bonafide showstoppers. Ghosty is the only returning member from last year’s squad. He’s now joined by the french phenom HyDra, Call of Duty’s junkyard dog Scrap, and the cerebral force known as Envoy. Bolstered by veteran coaches ShAnE and Sender, this veritable dream team has Championship aspirations and should be in contention at every single event. It will take a mammoth effort from any team to sneak wins away from this squad. 

These three worldbeaters will set the tone. Last season, Atlanta FaZe had OpTic Texas’ number. Drazah has long prided himself on being the bane of the Green Wall, and he definitely lived up to that reputation in Modern Warfare 3. However, games against Toronto Ultra were a bit more of a mixed bag, and with half of Toronto’s old roster now representing the LA Thieves, every series may be a coin flip yet again. You can expect there to be fireworks every single time the top dogs clash. 

Of course, those megateams aren’t the only ones in the running. Other rosters around the league may not be as eye-popping, but that doesn’t preclude them from pulling off upsets. While Cloud9 New York (formerly New York Subliners) never expected to rebuild its roster this year, the returning esports giant has assembled a blend of youthful energy and veteran leadership. Sib sits at the helm of this team. His status as an elite flex player has been unchallenged since Vanguard, but this is his first time being a true #1 option, and it’s time to see how his game translates without Pred or HyDra beside him. This year he’s joined by Mack, Attach, and Kremp. A former World Champ, Attach put up his best individual season in years as a member of the now-defunct Vegas Legion. These four will have to be on the same page right out of the gate, but if they can find an early spark, hanging around the top 4 won’t be out of the question. 

Moving up to the Great White North, Toronto Ultra may be down two star players, but that doesn’t mean it will simply fade into obscurity. CleanX and Insight are the heart and soul of this team. The veteran duo has weathered every kind of storm imaginable together, and were a hair’s breadth away from Championship glory in Modern Warfare II. Now, with Scrap and Envoy out of the picture, they were once again tasked with rebuilding the organization into a contender. Beans has been in turbulent situation after turbulent situation in his short time as a pro. He has garnered respect around the league for his individual talent, but this is by far the best roster of his career, and it’s time to turn potential into measurable performance. The same can be said about JoeDeceives. The young SMG took a huge step forward last year as part of LA Thieves, but both newcomers will need to find a level of consistency that has avoided them so far. Early momentum could make or break their season. 

The new-look Los Angeles Guerillas M8 are a true dark horse. They have all the potential in the world — Skyz, Priestahh, and KiSMET know how to win together. They proved it by running the competition all year long in Modern Warfare II. Lynz is widely assumed to be a future CDL all-star. The right pieces are in place for an underdog story for the ages. Staying power is an immediate question for this unit, but that’s not the only way to win. Teamwork can tip the scales, and few teams have it in comparable spades. 

Questions abound for everyone else. Have Minnesota ROKKR found a potent enough combination of young talent in Gio, Estreal, PaulEhx, and Nero? Can Carolina Royal Ravens rally around last year’s Rookie of the Year and maintain the momentum they ended MW3 with? Will Vikul’s retirement derail the Miami Heretics before the starter pistol is even fired for the season? Do Seattle Surge have the firepower to break into the Top 6? How far can Vegas Falcons make it with the CDL’s first all-Middle Eastern roster? All this and more will be answered when the starter pistol sounds on December 6.