For the first time since January 2020 the Call of Duty League returned to Minnesota on Thursday as the Minnesota ROKKR kicked of their international Major 2 Tournament at Mystic Lake Casino.
The tournament, which welcomes in all 12 Call of Duty League teams, is a four-day, double-elimination tournament that includes a $500,000 prize pool.
"The Call of Duty League season is structured similar to golf and tennis where you have a long season, but the main focus is around the league's four majors and then the championship at the end of the year," said Brett Diamond, Chief Operating Officer of Version 1 and the Minnesota ROKKR. "We're excited to be one of four teams selected to host one of the events."
Dallas, New York, and Toronto were also selected to host majors in 2022.
In 2020, the Minnesota ROKKR (pronounced 'rocker') hosted the Call of Duty League's launch weekend as the league began its inaugural season.
Over 5,000 people are expected to attend the four-day event at Mystic Lake.
"On the main stage for our event, we have the 12 best Call of Duty teams in the world," Diamond said. "These players are at the height of their profession."
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The weekend also features the Call of Duty Challengers event, which includes 96 teams competing on PC for $75,000. The top four teams from the Challengers event will then be invited to the CDL Pro-Am Classic.
"There are top teams from the amateur circuit that were invited to the event and then there's a process where essentially any team can sign-up," added Diamond. "The ROKKR's academy team will actually be playing in the event. They're actually based in Spain."
Diamond said that the European-based team was signed as coaches saw the group's potential to become the top gamers in the world.
"It's an international event across the board," he added.
Diamond said that the league had been fortunate to continue with their events during the pandemic, even if those events were online. However, he added that there's nothing like the experience of an in-person Call of Duty League main event.
"You can play online and you can play digitally, but from a competitive standpoint, these players are so good that moving their fingers milliseconds faster than somebody on the other side of the country can mean the difference in millions of dollars of prize money."
Currently, the ROKKR sit tenth in the standings with 50 Call of Duty League points, 5 match wins, and 7 match losses. Their team was one of three to not see any roster changes from last season.
"We had a lot of success late in the season last year where ROKKR won the fifth major of the season, which is the final regular season event. We also finished fourth place at the championship tournament," Diamond said. "We've started this season a little bit slow, but we've got a great group of players and this home event comes at a perfect time to give them so momentum and get some wins for the hometown fans."
The ROKKR play their first match Friday night at 6:30 p.m. against Optic Texas.