This year's season ended with the Call of Duty League 2020 Championship Weekend. In preparation for Black Ops Cold War, the Free Agency Phase has begun, and many players are leaving their teams. We show you who leaves and who stays.
At the end of August, Dallas Empire won against Atlanta FaZe in the Grand Final of the Call of Duty League 2020 and secured themselves $1.5 million.
- READ MORE: CoD Grand Finals CDL 2020
With the beginning of the offseason, the Free Agency Phase also started, and shortly after the final the first player left his team. Star player James "Clayster" Eubanks announced that he will leave Dallas Empire on September 1.
With the heaviest of hearts we are forced to let go of an absolute legend.We will be forever proud and grateful. Thank you, @Clayster.
— Dallas Empire (@DallasEmpire) September 1, 2020
But he is by no means the only one. In preparation for Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War, which will be released on November 13, and the resulting switch from a 5v5 to a 4v4 system, many professionals are leaving their teams. The individual organizations will again put together new rosters for the upcoming game. This is nothing unusual and happens after every season. Individual players are replaced or kept to build a new team around them. Since the professional scene in CoD is rather small with only 12 teams, most of the players will most likely reappear in one of the other teams in the next season.
CDL Roster Changes
We have compiled the latest roster changes of the 12 CDL teams for you here:
Dallas Empire
Star player James "Clayster" Eubanks and Thomas "Tommey" Trewren leave the team.
Thank you to @Tommey for all of your hard work this season.We wish you the best in whatever comes next for you
— Dallas Empire (@DallasEmpire) September 8, 2020
New York Subliners
Lamar "Accuracy" Abedi, Donovan "Temp" Laroda, Doug "Censor" Martin and Nick "Happy" Suda are free agents now. Therefore only Thomas “ZooMaa” Paparatto, Dillon “Attach“ Price and Makenzie “Mack“ Kelley remain.
Thank you @AccuracyLA, @Temp, @Censor, and @OpSuda for representing New York in our inaugural season of the @CODLeague. We are grateful for all of your contributions to the team. We wish you all the best in your next chapter.#NYSL pic.twitter.com/Cx5LmKhFNu
— NYSL (@Subliners) September 8, 2020
London Royal Ravens
Matthew "Skrapz" Marshall, Bradley "wuskin" Marshall, Trei "Zer0" Morris, Thomas "Dylan" Henderson, Rhys "Rated" Price, Dylan "MadCat" Daly and Byron "Nastie" Plumridge left the team leaving only Sean "Seany" O´Connor with the Ravens.
We want to thank our players who represented London with pride.We appreciate the contribution that @skrapzg, @DylanCOD_, @wuskinz, @Trei, @RatedCOD, @MadCat & @Nastiee made in our inaugural Call of Duty League season.We wish them all the best in their next ventures. pic.twitter.com/U5UVmu5p8O
— London Royal Ravens (@RoyalRavens) September 8, 2020
Paris Legion
The org released Conrad "Shockz" Rymarek, Denholm "Denz" Taylor, Luke "Louqa" Rigas, Matthew "KiSMET" Tinsley, Paul "Breszy" Breszynski, Timothy "Phantomz" Landis and Zach "Zed" Denyer and is left with no players.
Official statement : We want to thank all of these fantastic players that fought until the last second of the season with pride. We wish them the best of luck in the future. #EnGarde pic.twitter.com/ofdrhoeQQB
— Paris Legion (@ParisLegion) September 8, 2020
Chicago Huntsmen
Both brothers Alec "Arcitys" Sanderson and Preston "Prestinni" Sanderson, as well as analyst John "2Pac" Hartley left the team.
A memorable run from an amazing year that includes two Home Series championships, we'll miss and wish nothing but the best to @Arcitys & @Prestinni. pic.twitter.com/k7rahRZeV6
— OpTic Chicago (@OpTicCHI) September 8, 2020
OpTic Gaming LA
Brandon "Dashy" Otell, Darien "Hollow" Chverchko, Jevon "Goonjar" Gooljar-Lim and Martin "Chino" Chino were released. Kenny “Kuavo“ Williams, Austin “SlasheR“ Liddicoat, Thomas “TjHaLy” Haly and Zack “Drazah” Jordan remain with the team.
Minnesota ROKKR
Adam "GodRx" Brown, Adam "Assault" Garcia, Alex "Alexx" Carpenter, Devin "TTinyy" Robinson, Justin "SiLLY" Fargo-Palmer, Kaden "Exceed" Stockdale and Obaid "Asim" Asim are all free agents now. The team will have to rebuild a new roster from scratch.
Toronto Ultra
Six players were released, leaving only Cameron "Cammy" McKilligan and Tobias "CleanX" Juul Jønsson with the team. Nicholas "Classic" DiCostanzo, Carson "Brack" Newberry, Daniel "Loony" Loza, Alejandro "Lucky" López, Mehran "Mayhem" Anjomshoa, and Adrian "MettalZ" Serrano are free agents.
With heavy hearts, we say bye to some of our fellow teammates for the 2021 @CODLeague season. Thank you to this squad, you will forever be #SooUltra
— Toronto Ultra (@TorontoUltra) September 4, 2020
Seattle Surge
Seattle released all players but star player Sam “Octane“ Larew. Ian "Enable" Wyatt, Josiah "Slacked" Berry, Casey "Pandur" Romano, Nicholas "Proto" Maldonado, Bryan "Apathy" Zhelyazkov and Ted "TeddyRecKs" Kim are free agents now.
You helped us start our journey and we are excited to see where yours takes you next. Thank you @Enable, @Apathy_BZ, @Proto626, @Slacked, @CaseyPandur, and @TeddyRecKs for representing the Seattle Surge during our inaugural season. We wish you all the best of luck. pic.twitter.com/UqZfGNIagv
— Seattle Surge (@SeattleSurge) September 4, 2020
The new roster will be built around Octane, who was second and first best player in the whole CDL with a 1.29 K/D and a 109.25 Slayer rating in the Champs alone.
Los Angeles Guerrillas
The team released Kris “Spart“ Cervantez, Rasim “Blazt“ Ogresevic, Andres “Lacefield“ Lacefield, Renato “Saints“ Forza, Jacob “Decemate” Cato and Ulysses “AquA” Silva. Only Reece “Vivid” Drost and Richard “Ricky“ Stacy remain in the roster.
Today, we part ways with some of our players. @Blazt, @itsSpart, @SaintsNato, @UAquaa, @Lacefield, @Decemate, thank you for your time and hard work. pic.twitter.com/seMzE2FgOk
— Los Angeles Guerrillas (@LAGuerrillas) September 7, 2020
The only two teams that have not yet laid off any players are Atlanta FaZe and Florida Mutineers. We will of course keep you informed as soon as there is news about further layoffs or new roster foundations.
Don't forget to check out the multiplayer reveal on Balck Ops Cold War tonight:
All the news and updates for Call of Duty, like the new operator Morte, can be found at EarlyGame.