CDL rostermania leaves players ‘speechless’ as Breach, ROKKR, and Surge all shuffle

It's that time of year in the Call of Duty League when teams need to take a good hard look in the mirror and weigh up whether the roster at their disposal has enough guile and vigour to turn things around.

With a shorter season in store this year, with just four Majors in total, we're now at the halfway stage of the regular season, and that all-important race for eighth place (Champs qualification) is heating things up down at the bottom of the table.

Only the CDL's top four are safe enough to settle with their rosters, and as we edge towards Major 3 qualification, teams are blowing it up - but some moves are raising bigger eyebrows than they should.

CDL Rostermania sparks into life with 'speechless' moves

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Between fifth place and 12th is just 50 points, and with 10 points on offer per win during the league season, teams will have enough opportunity in the next seven qualifiers to rocket up the leaderboard and get one hand on Champs qualification.

Kicking off rostermania at this stage, we've already seen Los Angeles Thieves act on the chance to recall Joseph "JoeDeceives" Romero to the starting lineup, while Seattle Surge has announced the departure of two-time World Champion Alec "Arcitys" Sanderson.

But in what appears to be one of the more ludicrous moves yet, bottom-placed Boston Breach has now benched their two star players Austin "SlasheR" Liddicoat and Obaid "Asim" Asim.

Taking to social media, both players expressed their surprise about the change, especially with the duo performing much better in Major 2, compared to the opening split.

"Obviously wasn’t expecting this, pretty speechless about the situation," Asim said.

"At the end of the day I gave it my all in that short period of time and it wasn’t enough for them to keep me for the year".

Asim's departure also sparked a reaction from his now ex-teammate Preston "Priestahh" Garnier, whose tear-jerk emoji implied that this was not a decision he wanted to happen.

"I’ll be game ready whenever just wanna compete with a team," added SlasheR.

Neither change has gone down well with fans of the team, and even CDL community figures, as the pragmatic sentiment of "CDL organizations truly have zero clue what they’re doing," has been echoed by Sam "Octane" Larew.

Fan-favourite duo to return to action in CDL roster shakeup

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On the other end of the scale though, Minnesota ROKKR is making popular moves, even at the expense of one of the CDL's most consistent players.

According to Jacob Hale, Eli "Standy" Bentz and Indervir "iLLeY" Dhaliwal are both returning to action, with the latter being a massive fan-favourite, despite some recent accusations of Adderall usage, which he denied. Standy was previously a ROKKR player in his breakout season, where he helped the organisation in their miracle Major win.

As for other moves, Boston's replacements appear to be rising from the Challengers scene, as Nathaniel "Pentagrxm" Thomas is rumoured to be getting his first shot in the league. Seattle Surge is also eyeing "04" and Enzo "Cobra" Mekentichi, while Miami Heretics could be boosted by the arrival of José "ReeaL" Manuel whose Visa issues appear to be fixed.

With fifth-place ROKKR, and the bottom four all making roster changes this window, the heat is really turning up for eighth place and Las Vegas Legion, Carolina Royal Ravens, and Los Angeles Guerrillas will be keeping a sharp eye over their shoulders.