Call of Duty Rostermania

Another week has come and gone; let’s catch up on what we know about the Call of Duty League rosters and some of the rumors that may have some validity.

Optic Formal

Matthew “Formal” Piper, one of the best assault rifle players in the game, has officially called it a career and retired from competitive Call of Duty. In a Twitter post, he documented how much fun he has had with his teammates over the 11 years he has been in competitive gaming.

Formal came to Call of Duty after being a professional Halo player. He began his Halo playing career in 2009, at MLG Anaheim. Formal won his first Halo event in 2011 at MLG Orlando. He would win a few other events in Halo before leaving to pursue a Call of Duty career.

Formal played for a few different teams before landing with Team EnVyUs. They had immediate success winning their first tournament in London in 2014. This would cement Formal’s legacy as the first console professional to win a Halo event and a Call of Duty event.

Formal’s greatest accomplishment was in 2017 when he was able to win Call of Duty Championships with Optic Gaming. This roster of Scump, Crimsix, Karma, and Formal is highly considered one of the best rosters ever created.

Formal thanked his fans in his message and talked about the way competing can take a toll on your mental health. He said that he would like to continue in the industry and can be found on Twitch playing several different games.

Los Angeles Guerrillas

Shortly after our last article, the Los Angeles Guerillas announced that they would dropping their 2021 roster as well. The Guerillas had one of the most up and down seasons of any team in the COD League this year. They were never able to win an event, however, they found themselves in the winner’s bracket several times.

The rumors going around the cod Reddit page say that the team is looking to build around Slasher, a former AR player for 100 thieves. After Slasher, it sounds like the team is looking to acquire Huke, Gunless, and Asim.

100 Thieves

Another roster that seems all but set is the Los Angeles Thieves roster. From things being posted, it seems like the team will keep Kenny and Drazah around for next year. The team will then look to add Envoy and Octane. If this roster can figure out the logistics of how to get everyone paid, this has real potential to be one of the best teams in the game.

Optic/Dallas

One of the most interesting things to come out of this week is the talks of the potential merger between the Dallas Empire roster and the Optic Chicago roster. This would combine Scump and Dashy, the only two remaining players for Optic, with Illey and Shottzy from Dallas Empire.

There is going to have to be a lot of work on the backside of this deal. The way it sounds at this point, NRG, who owns the Optic Chicago spot, will look to either sell their spot or find a new team to take over.

This would also mean Hecz, Optic owner, and Hastro, the Envy owner, would become partners. If you have followed Call of Duty at all, these two are perennial names amongst owners. They are always active on social media and always support a great rivalry, deeming the Optic vs. Envy matchups the eClasico.

Staying Together

It sounds like there are only two teams that will not be making any roster changes, Atlanta Faze and Toronto Ultra. Of all of the teams that competed in 2021, this makes the most sense. Atlanta was one of the most dominant rosters in the game last season. Toronto seemed to be the only team to give Faze a run for their money, and they proved themselves all of 2021, they will have major expectations in the next title.

Overall

While this was not the busiest of weeks in rostermania, there was still a lot of chatter about different team combinations and potential rosters. September 5th was the first day that teams could announce and sign their rosters. I would expect this week we will get to see our first teams announce their full rosters. Make sure to check out esportsallstar.com for the latest news.