FormaL Admits CDL Retirement Could Be ‘Just A Year Break’
Long-time competitive Call of Duty (CoD) fans have recently been stunned as the infamous rostermania off-season ended the career of one of the most established players of all time.
Matthew "FormaL" Piper announced his retirement from competitive Call of Duty on August 28, ending an 11-year career across both CoD and Halo. As an established member of OpTic Gaming, barring a short hiatus at Luminosity, FormaL left the Green Wall devastated, splitting up with his "Time 2 Pound" duo Seth "Scump" Abner.
Taking to Twitlonger, FormaL claimed: "It just isn't the same any more. After 10 years of scrims, tournaments, and just grinding altogether, it can get tiresome. I do believe I could still compete, but it'd be just straight-up selfish to whoever I'd be playing with, knowing I might not give them my all."
However, his retirement might not be a permanent move...
FormaL Admits He May Come Back From Retirement Next Year
After firing up his stream on a couple of occasions since his retirement, but attempting to avoid the topic, instead just enjoying Call of Duty, FormaL finally addressed the announcement in an OpTic Chicago podcast alongside Hector "H3CZ" Rodriguez.
"I don't know if it's the online era of Cod that has been the final thing to drain me, but getting on and scrimming every day just ain't it for me any more," said FormaL.
"I might just need a little break from it, like maybe a year break, and I might want to do it again," he added, sparking hope into thousands of OpTic fanatics.
He added, "But for right now, the process of scrimming and trying to get good and better as a team is just not sounding fun to me right now, especially on a game that I don't think I'll like."
FormaL's retirement comes after rumours that OpTic Chicago will dilute from NRG and merge with Envy's Dallas Empire, with Dylan "Envoy" Hannon also being removed from the roster as well as Empire duo Ian "Crimsix" Porter and Reece "Vivid" Drost.
Scump could now be fielded in a team alongside Brandon "Dashy" Otell, Indervir "iLLeY" Dhaliwal, and CDL 2020 MVP Anthony "Shotzzy" Cuevas-Castro.
Whether we'll see FormaL return or not is a question that will be answered during the Call of Duty: Vanguard era, at least. Now, two members of the OpTic World Championship roster have retired in consecutive years, having seen Damon "Karma" Barlow hang up his controller in 2020.
Hopefully, it won't be a hat-trick, and FormaL will make a return, although it's normally the hope that kills us, especially in OpTic's case.