Host of Call of Duty Pros Released from Teams

After it was announced that the Treyarch game of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War would feature 4v4 gameplay, rather than the 5v5 of Modern Warfare, teams across the globe have been making changes to their roster. While it was necessary for at least one player to be removed, a number of teams this week have taken the unprecedented step of releasing almost their entire rosters.

The most significant changes were made by the Minnesota RØKKR team, who choose to release all of their players from 2020, including Obaid “Asim” Asim, Kaden “Exceed” Stockdale, Devin “TTinyy” Robinson, Alex “Alexx” Carpenter, Adam “Assault” Garcia, Adam “GODRX” Brown, and Justin “SiLLY” Fargo-Palmer. Having initially looked like one of the more competitive teams at the LAN earlier this year, RØKKR eventually finished poorly upon matches going online as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. They eventually finished in 8th position, before being knocked out by OpTic Gaming Los Angeles in the losers bracket second round of the Call of Duty League Championship.

London Royal Raves Release Almost Entire Roster

Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond, the London Royal Ravens have just one remaining player on their roster, with Sean “Seany” O’Conner having seen Bradley “Wuskin” Marshall, Matthew “Skrapz” Marshall, Thomas “Dylan” Henderson, Trei “Zer0” Morris, Rhys “Rated” Price, Dylan “MadCat” Daly, and Byron “Nastiee” Plumridge be released on Tuesday. The Ravens ended the regular season in 6th place, before finishing in a respectable 4th at the COD League Championship.

Staying in Europe, the Paris Legion released their entire roster after finishing 10th in the regular season and 10th-11th at the Championship. This means that Denholm “Denz” Taylor, Luka “Louqa” Rigas, Conrad “Shockz” Rymarek, Zach “Zed” Denyer, Matthew “KiSMET” Tinsley, Timothy “Phantomz” Landis, and Paul “Brezy” Breszynski will all be looking for new teams or considering their options going forward, with Legion having shown no mercy in their decision.

Major Changes for OpTic Gaming LA Too

Returning to North America, OpTic Gaming Los Angeles chose to release Brandon “Dashy” Otell, Darien “Hollow” Chverchko, Jevon “Goonjar” Gooljar-Lim, and Martin “Chino” Chino, with the former having played for the organisation since 2018. The Chicago Huntsmen made the surprise decision to release twin brothers Alec “Arcitys” Sanderson and Preston “Prestinni” Sanderson, with the latter having joined the team after a spell at the Florida Mutineers. The Mutineers ended the regular season in 4th position, before coming in third at the Championship.

While the change in format of Treyarch meant that roster changes were inevitable, few would have predicted just how ruthless teams would be. Developer Treyarch announced a teaser for the new Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War multiplayer game mode this week, with fans already excitedly anticipating further updates.