Call Of Duty Pros Ban Snipers (Again) And The Community Thinks It ‘Sucks’
Sniping in Call of Duty has been a staple within the competitive scene since it was unearthed back in the Black Ops 2 era. Almost as prehistoric as the dinosaurs, sniping is now facing extinction from the Call of Duty League, as, once again, the professional teams have voted to ban the rifles from competitive play during the third season of the franchised league.
As part of the ever-growing list of arsenal abolishes, the Vanguard snipers have been added to Gentlemen’s agreement – a fictitious rule set that is only enforced by the players, rather than the actual developers, which bans certain weapons, attachments, killstreaks, skins, and maps “in order to maintain competitive integrity”. Hmm.
For the second year in a row, the malicious art that is sniping will not be seen in Search and Destroy maps, and the community figures – including many professionals themselves – think the move “sucks”.
Why Did The Call of Duty League Ban Snipers?
Despite some respite from a selection of players, all twelve teams unanimously decided to add the weapon class to the GA List ahead of the Kickoff Classic on January 19. Joining the Black Ops Cold War season as the second consecutive season without them, fans have begged the question as to why this is the case.
It appears that the twelve teams have judged the class to be ‘overpowered’ when used alongside Smoke Grenades, leaving it a toss-up as to which should be removed from the ‘integral’ and ‘viable’ equipment set. With many of the teams already settling on strategies ahead of the seasonal curtain-raiser which are heavily reliant on Smoke Grenades, many squads have sacrificed the snipers to save their chances of success in the round-based game mode – even if they wanted to keep both.
OpTic Texas’ Anthony "Shotzzy" Cuevas-Castro backed this reasoning, taking to his stream to admit "our entire team wanted them [snipers]", but the reason they voted them off was that "nobody would then listen to us to keep smokes in". OpTic’s own Brandon "Dashy" Otell is renowned as one of the best Sniper players in the league, with their new flex player Indervir "iLLeY" Dhaliwal also the dedicated sniper for Dallas Empire during the Modern Warfare era.
CDL Community Claims Sniper Ban ‘Sucks’
Following the announcement of the Sniping ban, some professional players spoke out about the decision, such as Minnesota ROKKR’s young gunner Eli "Standy" Bentz, who tweeted "I don’t even snipe and I didn’t mind if it was in", before sending some sass in the direction of the larger player base. Arguably a top-three sniper in the league, Sam "Octane" Larew also added, "sorry guys I wanted to snipe too".
With the pros seemingly split on the decision, despite a unanimous vote, community figures such as former CWL caster Jack "CouRage" Dunlop took to Twitter to express their dismay. The 100 Thieves Co-Owner simply said, "this sucks and will always suck."
The Kickoff Classic is set to start on January 19, although it's clear that if Snipers are to return in the 2022/23 season, the players will have to get their act together much quicker, with a recent community announcement admitting that the league will kick off much sooner next year. It does mean that the Assault Rifle game is crucial this year, leaving much more onus on players such as Larew – dubbed as the "Human Turret".
