This week things finally kick off for CEVO’s third season of Call of Duty 4 competition. After a lengthy wait, an interesting placement tournament, and more ruleset changes, teams will finally start playing in the first true competition of 2009. Only a few weeks ago we saw the placement tournament conclude and solidify this season’s Professional division competitors. Suffice to say, a number of those results were unexpected as we saw former CEVO-Open champions from last season, eMazing Gaming, lose two straight matches to be eliminated. Furthermore, we saw a number of teams such as Pushing the Limits and Famouz advancing with relative ease. Whether certain teams had easier roads through the brackets is debatable, but it seems CEVO’s emphasis on finding stable and consistent teams paid off as the true test is now only about to begin.



Pandemic

The season 2 champs have been somewhat quiet over the past few weeks after picking up Nicolas “nicloas” Aubin. Pandemic was one of two teams to remain in CEVO-Pro from the previous season and therefore it’s hard to tell how much weight you can put on their championship last season carrying over. Additionally, the never-ending rule changes have turned competitive CoD4 into a logistical nightmare for teams trying to stay at the top of their game. Fortunately, it’s not going to matter much as this squad has more than enough talent and experience to keep adjusting. The only real hiccup could come in the addition of Aubin, which will probably take a little time before he’s mixing in smoothly with the rest of Pandemic’s unique play style. Therefore, don’t be surprised to see a few losses early in the regular season as Pandemic has already proved they don’t need a #1 or #2 seed to win a championship. Otherwise, expect the usual target on the back of this squad as everyone marks them the team to beat.

x3o-gaming

You might be wondering why a team that only qualified through the placement is on my list this season as a potential team to watch for. What you must understand, however, is this is not the same x3o that took 7th last season with a 9-6 record last season, not even close. Nick Fitz certainly surprised many sticking with the team and with a little luck it’s going to pay off with recent additions Preston “juv3nile” Dornon and Robert “Sintax” Ryan to the starting roster. Now that’s not to say their previous roster wasn’t talented, but with the additions of Dornon and Ryan come the solidifying of certain team roles. No longer will team captain Rob “grim” Koster have to bounce back and forth between the sniper and rifle class as Dornon now takes over as the full time talented and experienced sniper needed. Furthermore, Ryan adds the big rifle play to the roster to support x3o’s aggressive assault class. Coupled with the talent of the remaining x3o roster, factor in they are one of the most experienced teams in the professional division, and you have a team ready to do damage this season.

Pure E-Sports

As another team that has really risen to the top of the competition this season, Pure, like x3o, will most likely be turning heads. Sporting one of the more interesting rosters in the professional division Pure mixes and mashes some very interesting talented and experienced players into an effective winning machine. Probably the first name that stands out on Pure’s roster is the infamous Carter “COACH” Salley himself. Salley has competed on more championship teams then 98% of the entire Call of Duty community combined and brings a certain winning vibe to the team, however, he is not the real glue to the roster. While equally capable teammates Eric "snatcch" Brinkley, Steven "limitless" Kietzer, Travis "deli" DeLucia each add their own flavor to the team, their playmaker comes, in my opinion, as one of the most underrated players in CoD4, Joshua "gladia7or" Adams. Adams has been a part of numerous winning rosters throughout competitive CoD, however, most probably remember him from the old Enervate squad back in CoD2 with Pandemic’s Justin “prank” DeMara. His unique ability to seemingly get the job done is invaluable to Pure as Adams is often seen winning important rounds with double and triple kills when Pure needs it most. Look for Pure to storm through a majority of the competition this season with Adams leading the way.



The bubble teams - Besides the three teams listed above, there are a plethora of other talented teams that could cause quite a show this season including Frag Dominant, both MoB teams, Hostile Faction, Pushing the Limits, or any other team for that matter. With so many roster changes from the previous season as well as ruleset changes it’s hard to say who falls where anymore. While scrims, placement tournament and preseason matches give us a base to start at, there is plenty of room for any number of these teams to come out big throughout the regular season.

Beware of early season implications - As with the current state of the NFL, results in the early season do not weigh as heavily as the final few weeks and playoff matches. Sure, getting a higher seed in playoffs is a good thing, but with final ruleset and team changes continuing to iron out, I wouldn’t start making playoff predictions till halfway through the season. Otherwise, you have my boys from Philly storming all over NY last week.

More ruleset changes - There is a lot of rumors and news circulating that there are more ruleset and even a mod change coming very soon, of which, unfortunately I cannot comment in much detail. What I can say is this, teams will most likely not have to adapt too much more to any major ruleset changes unless a majority of the community pushes for certain changes. With that said, it seems the general pace and style of the game has been set for the season, so start thinking long-term strats.

Video Coverage - One of the more tragedies last season was how little video coverage of the professional division there existed. In reality, only Gamefire and E-Rev provided consistent coverage. Fortunately, now we have the likes of Pwnage.TV and TFGB to add into the mix. This means there is a good chance whichever team you have steaks in is probably being broadcasted by someone, sometime!

Season 4 LOL?!?!?! - There is a lot of speculation about whether or not this is the last season of CEVO CoD4, and while I’ll be the first to admit I’m not sure myself, I think the face on both sides of the coin is blank. Right now we are in the offseason of eSports and a lot can happen in the months of January and February. Teams should stay the course and concentrate on this season, I wouldn’t start thinking to next season until playoffs roll around.

Unified Rulesets - Fortunately, CEVO and CAL are very much on the same page here in North America so things will most likely stay unified no matter what changes happen. Interesting things could happen, however, if the community once again tries to unify behind a single mod/ruleset, especially with recent initiatives in Europe such as theCODalliance.



Anticipation of starting the regular season
Amount of general activity within the community
Number of CAL forum threads on mod and ruleset changes
NERV LAN #3 inches closer

Total prize pot this season is half that of last season’s
Mod updates and ruleset changes
Total number of CEVO teams is significantly less than last season
Major tournaments for CoD4 look bleak at the moment