Call of Duty League – Dallas Odds & Picks: Dallas Empire +175 Favorites

• CDL Dallas is set to be played online with the date yet to be announced
• The hometown team sits as the favorite, but rightfully so?
• Best sleeper picks to win out in Texas

The Dallas Empire, were set to host their inaugural homestand March 28-29th, at the Toyota Music Factory in Irving, Texas, until it was moved online in light of recent concerns about COVID-19. With the change from LAN to online, there has without a doubt been a change in what teams may end up making a run to the final and possibly win the tournament.

Out of the eight teams that will be playing in the CDL Dallas online tournament, two have already captured one homestand win on the year; Chicago when they won in London, and Dallas who won most recently in Los Angeles. Both teams are chalked full of superstar talent and could realistically win a second title on the year, but by no means is it a two-horse race at CDL Dallas.

CDL Dallas Odds

Odds taken on Mar. 26

Even Better Home Field Advantage?

There was a running joke at the beginning of the CDL Season that Dallas, was purely an online team after their domination in the pre-season and their abysmal first event on LAN in Minnesota where they only won one map. This perception has slowly shifted though, after they managed a second place finish in London and followed it up with a first place finish at CDL Los Angeles.

They were probably looking forward to their home stand to play in front of their fans, but truth be told this is probably an even bigger advantage to the Empire. They are godly online, and will surely be playing out the Envy compound which is known to have incredible internet. If there is one thing any Call of Duty player knows, it’s if you are playing online and get into a 1v1 gunfight, the person with the better internet wins the majority of the time.

When I saw this meme and realized I have that same exact router… @DallasEmpire pic.twitter.com/muBwNPUXAs

— FaZe Crimsix (@Crimsix) January 30, 2020

There is no Esport I can think of that is more random than Call of Duty when played out online. From the broken hitreg to the fact they are playing on 12hz servers, it’s safe to say this event will have an asterisk beside it forever due to the unpredictable nature of online Call of Duty. There is one thing that is certain though, the Dallas Empire, are very comfortable playing online and will not only embrace the chaos, but they will thrive in it.

The Next Up

There are a few obvious teams that should be at least considered to come out of CDL Dallas with a chip, and I would say in order they would be Minnesota, Florida and Chicago with the last two being interchangeable. If this event was to be played out on LAN I think I would for sure have Chicago in the first spot, but they are known to struggle a bit online mainly due to the fact one of their stars is playing out of California when the rest are in Texas.

This is obviously not ideal and can cause a tremendous amount of problems when playing online, so as long as Formal heads out to Texas to play with the rest of his team they may be able to make a pretty decent run at CDL Dallas. They have beat Dallas in scrims online before so its’s not to say it’s an impossible ask, I just think that given the circumstances they shouldn’t be looked at too seriously as a favorite.

Minnesota, on the other hand is a team that many seemed to sleep on at the beginning of the year, but with their consistently good performances they have shown they are a top dog in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Lead by GodRx, who is having a superstar year, they have managed to place in the top-4 of the last two homestands, taking home silver most recently in Los Angeles in a crushing five map battle against Dallas. I would say that out of all the teams that will be in attendance, Rokkr, are the biggest threat to the Empire at CDL Dallas.

The last team I would suggest at least taking a look at would be Florida. They are fresh off of a roster change that saw the addition of one of the best amateur players in Call of Duty, Fero. He undoubtably should’ve been on a league team since the start of the season, but given a few events in his past he was kept out of the league. The combination of Fero and Skyz, is pretty deadly and I would keep an eye on them at CDL Dallas and the rest of the CDL Season.

https://twitter.com/f3rocitys/status/1235984096087535616?s=20

Total Longshot

One team that is an absolute hail mary pick that could possibly make some waves at CDL Dallas, is Seattle. They seem to be good on paper, lead by probably the best AR in the game, Octane, and past world champions, Apathy and Karma. Many expected them to be a top-4 team in the league in the pre-season, but so far they have been nothing but a let down. But hey, maybe since it’s an online tournament they can make a run, and at 25-1 odds, they may be worth throwing a couple bucks on.

Pick: Dallas Empire (+175)