Dallas Empire Drops Clayster Ahead Of 2021 CDL Season

Championship-winning Dallas Empire is the first team to announce a roster change ahead of the 2021 season

Yesterday the Call of Duty League announced a move back to their roots with 4v4 competitive play returning for the 2021 Black Ops Cold War season. This means that each CDL team will have to drop a player from the starting roster going into next season. 2020 Champions Dallas Empire is the first team to announce a move with James “Clayster” Eubanks becoming a restricted free agent for the 2021 season.

Clayster's reaction

In a Twitlonger, Clayster said how “Empire decided to move with the other four for next year, and he genuinely holds nothing against the org or the players”.  Clayster is one of only three, three-time world champions and is the second highest-earning Call of Duty player of all time with a whopping $1.08 million in prize money earnt during his career. Clayster would be an extremely valuable asset to any team being back to back world champion, winning two players their first event victories in both of his last two seasons.

One of the most hard-hitting sections from his Twitlonger has to be where he speaks about his career so far, he says:

“My track record speaks for its fuckin' self but in case you forgot, I took four different rookies to two different World Championships in back to back years. Bang my line if you want to win one with me this year, I've never been more motivated and had my fire fueled like this. I've won six tournaments in two seasons, with three seconds, and two rings. 

You know the type of player you're getting with me, and if this is my last hurrah I'm giving it all I got. I don't want it to be the last ride, but who knows after how these last two years turned out. All I've ever asked was to be appreciated and wanted, and as soon as an org shows that back to me I'm there for life.“

Looking towards the future

This has clearly come as a shock to Clayster as Dallas Empire won the 2020 Call of Duty League World Championships only two days ago. With every team now having to move to four-man rosters, Dallas Empire is the first to do so and this was definitely not expected. Many fans and players have responded on Twitter wishing Clayster luck with his future and stating how any other franchise would be lucky to have him on their roster.

Photo via Call of Duty League.