CDL Rostermania: OpTic Curses Itself, Countless Changes Come

It has been a remarkably busy week in the world of the Call of Duty League. As the 2021 season has come to a close, rostermania has kicked off, and players are currently moving around the board at break-neck speeds. With each new day, the community sits with bated breath, waiting to see which player will be released by their team ahead of the 2022 season. Since the 12th of August, no fewer than twenty-eight players have undergone changes in the CDL, almost all of them being released as free agents.

In a bizarre twist, and arguably standing as the highlight of the week, OpTic decided to throw a curse upon itself. For years, we’ve seen a trend whereupon OpTic drops a player, only for that player to be a part of the winning team in the following season’s competition. It has happened three years back-to-back, but this year, OpTic Texas is getting ahead of the game. On August 17th, the team ‘dropped’ Dashy and iLLeY, only to re-acquire the two superstar players one day later.

Therefore, the curse has kicked in, but in theory, OpTic Texas should reign supreme in 2022.

Rostermania Is Running Wild

The Crimsix x HyDra drama started off rostermania perfectly.

For the opening week of rostermania, the community has received a healthy dose of drama and surprise. It all kicked off with a controversial debate between Crimsix, HyDra, and the rest of the Subliners (or ex-Subliners) crew. Following Crimsix’ departure from New York’s team, it was revealed that the squad had ultimately failed to gel throughout most of the season. There were allegations of racism and toxicity among the squad, and it ended up with Crimsix saying that HyDra was ‘dead to him’.

Following that debacle, the rest of the New York Subliners team was released.

As we’ve already highlighted, a whopping twenty-eight players have moved around the field since the 12th of August. At the time of writing this article (19th August), the following moves are accurate:

Free Agents

• TJHaly (x Boston Breach)
• Capsidal (x Boston Breach)
• Bance (x Toronto Ultra)
• Cammy (x Toronto Ultra)
• Priestahh (x Minnesota Rokkr)
• Havok (x Minnesota Rokkr)
• Standy (x Minnesota Rokkr)
• Attach (x Minnesota Rokkr)
• GRVTY (x Paris Legion)
• Jimbo (x Paris Legion)
• John (x Paris Legion)
• Pentagrxm (x LA Thieves)
• PaulEhx (x Subliners)
• Crimsix (x Subliners)
• HyDra (x Subliners)
• Clayster (x Subliners)
• General (x OpTic Texas)
• Prolute (x OpTic Texas)
• Classic (x Seattle Surge)
• Yeez (x Florida Mutineers)
• Skyz (x Florida Mutineers)
• Owakening (x Florida Mutineers)
• 2ReaL (x Florida Mutineers)
• MajorManiak (x Florida Mutineers)
• Gunless (x LA Guerrillas
• Arcitys (x Atlanta FaZe)

That’s one hell of a list, and it’s only getting bigger as time goes on.

Big Changes Taking Place

Arcitys’ departure came as a shock to some fans (Image Credit: Twitter – Arcitys)

For a few teams in the Call of Duty League, an entire restructuring is on the cards. We’ve seen the likes of Florida, Subliners, and Rokkr all clean house in the last few days, opening up the table and giving fans no idea of what’s coming next. Technically, we could also list Dashy and iLLeY above, but despite being made free agents on the 17th of August, they’re already back, safe and sound inside of OpTic Texas’ roster.

One of the biggest surprises of the week was the news that Arcitys would be leaving Atlanta FaZe. While the veteran Call of Duty player hasn’t had a stunning season, he has played a pivotal part in the team’s success thus far. Since the start of the 2021 season, Arcitys has repped the FaZe banner, aiding the team in securing three Major wins and a Championship victory throughout the season. This marks the first change that the team has made since the start of 2021.

There’s a long way to go until the 2023 season kicks off in earnest. Between then and now, we’ve got Call of Duty: NEXT, as well as the launch of Modern Warfare II and Warzone 2. It’s a busy year for Call of Duty, so stay tuned to all the latest news, right here.