Eight teams chase $800,000 at CDL Championship in Las Vegas

The 2026 Call of Duty League Championship began July 16 at the Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas, with eight teams competing for an $800,000 first-place prize and a total prize pool near $2 million. Paris Gentle Mates opened Winners Bracket play with a 2-0 series win over Toronto KOI.

The event runs through July 19 in a double-elimination format. All eight teams start in the Winners Bracket; a single loss moves a team to the Losers Bracket and a second loss eliminates it. Quarterfinal and earlier rounds are best-of-five series. The Grand Final on July 19 is scheduled as a best-of-nine.

Optic Texas entered Champs as the top seed after a 40-12 regular season and 575 points. LA Thieves were second with 500 points, Faze Vegas third with 440, Paris Gentle Mates fourth with 380, Toronto KOI fifth with 290, G2 Minnesota sixth with 250, Riyadh Falcons seventh with 240 and Miami Heretics eighth with 235.

Day 1’s schedule also included LA Thieves versus Riyadh Falcons, Faze Vegas against G2 Minnesota, and Optic Texas closing the night versus Miami Heretics. Toronto KOI moves to the Losers Bracket and will begin that run on July 17.

Prediction markets reflected the regular season standings. One market gave Optic Texas an 84% chance to beat Miami Heretics with about $57,500 in trading volume. LA Thieves were listed near 93% against Riyadh Falcons, and Faze Vegas about 72% versus G2 Minnesota in markets that recorded more than $36,000 in volume. Paris Gentle Mates was heavily favored over Toronto KOI before their 2-0 result.

Riyadh Falcons entered the tournament after two late roster changes. G2 Minnesota reached Champs after a late-season improvement cited by analysts. Miami Heretics finished the regular season .500 and have previous competitive results against Optic Texas. The Paris–Toronto matchup followed an earlier roster move involving player JoeDeceives.

Competitive play uses the Black Ops 7 map pool, with Hardpoint on Colossus, Den and Scar and Search and Destroy on Den, Fringe and Raid among the selected maps. Teams must prepare for multiple modes and maps as elimination matches progress.

The 2026 season began in December 2025 and included four stages of qualifiers, minors and majors to determine the eight teams at Champs. Fans can follow live scores, video-on-demand and player interviews through the league’s official channels as the bracket plays out over the next three days.