Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War League Play starts this week

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War League Play
(Image credit: Activision)

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War League Play is live now, giving competitive players regular events to test their skills in the same modes and maps as Call of Duty League pros.

Black Ops Cold War League Play is built on the same fundamentals as Black Ops 4 League Play with some new tweaks and additions: Activision and Treyarch will host two League Play Events per week, with one in the week from Monday to Friday and one in the weekend from Friday to Monday. You'll play five placement matches once you start your first event, determining your initial Skill Division placement, and then for the rest of the event you'll earn your promotions in 4v4 matches pulled from a consistent pool of 50 players around your skill level.

League Play will reflect many of the competitive decisions that shape Call of Duty League, using the same selection of maps, modes, and even restricted attachments (Treyarch's site will keep an updated list of the current bans). You can even play with the same preset classes available to pro players, though custom loadouts are also supported if you prefer.

Reaching rank milestones will unlock special League Play Calling Cards that you can take with you into League Play, Multiplayer, and Zombies. You'll also earn XP and Battle Pass progression just like any other mode - so even if you have a bad day and drop ranks like they're going out of style, at least you're still making progress elsewhere.

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Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.