CDL Roster Changes in 2021 – New team rosters, same old problems

Call of Duty
November 7, 2021
Jordan Ashley

The Call of Duty league had a great 2021 Season. However, the game is currently in the off-season, and teams are getting to grips with the newly released Call of Duty Vanguard. Getting themselves established for the coming new season is becoming a challenge. The off-season CDL roster changes are in full swing, as big roster swaps already took place.

CDL Roster Changes

Twitter: @CODLeague

CDL Roster Changes in 2021

We already know the full 2022 squads for some of the teams in the game, and some are looking extremely scary already.Let’s go through the list of teams and see how they are fairing thus far.

Atlanta FaZe 

FaZe had a strong season in 2021, so it would make sense that they’d try to keep a lot of that roster intact. Sib has left the team in September, but this has been their only move so far since the 2021 season began. This consistency could change closer to the next season launching though.

Chicago Optic

Chicago had another strong season this year but have lost two players since it kicked off. Both Envoy and FormaL have left the time, with FormaL retiring rather than finding another quad. This leaves a bit of a hole in their active squad, so we’ll have to see who they grab to replace those players.

Dallas Empire

Dallas Empire have definitely embraced the freedom of moving things around this season having had a lot of CDL roster changes in 2021 so far. Most recently they lost Crimsix to New York Subliners. They also lost Vivid and FeLo in October, leaving the roster wide open for a re-build. The team had plenty of turnover at the beginning of the season too. It is difficult to say if a changed-up roster is going to make a big difference for them next time around.

Florida Mutineers

The Florida Mutineers lost Ature back in September and Neptune to follow. They’ve signed Davpadie and Vivid, and are hard to scope in terms of trade value, especially considering the difference in play level and style between the old and new players. Coming into the new season the Mutineers are a mystery in terms of relative strength.

London Royal Ravens 

Back in August before the season even officially ended, London dropped Alexx, Seany, PaulEhx, Zed, and ShAnE. Their active roster currently only consists of Afro, a player who only joined in January of this year. This team is clearly going to be a nearly all new squad the upcoming year. Back in September, DotEsports called Zer0, Nastie, and Gismo as the top players on the Ravens wishlist. Thus far, the organization is yet to sign any new players.

Los Angeles Guerrillas

LAG had big turnover with their squad for the season with a lot of CDL roster changes in 2021. They’ve released their entire roster at the end of August. Since then, they’ve pulled in a new roster with Gunless, Asim, SlasheR, and Huke. This new squad is something fresh for the team, and coming in as completely different from last season it will definitely set LA Guerrillas up for a different season.

While we cannot quite make power rankings right now, LAG is looking fierce and with a top 5 roster from the get go.

New York Subliners

New York has also had a lot of turnover since the end of the season. They’ve lost Revan, Diamondon, Asim, Mack, and ZooMaa. This was gradually rather than a full roster release though. To replace these players, they’ve signed DREAL, Crimsix, Neptune, and Revan. This new team means that New York’s performance next year is still up in the air, with far many differences to rely on this season’s performance as an indicator.

Minnesota RØKKR

Minnesota hasn’t had too much turnover in players this year, at least compared with the CDL roster changes in 2021. They lost their Coach and Accuracy, but have gained Nuzby as Team Operations Coordinator. Considering their season performance, RØKKR can keep most pieces identical and still secure a good start to the 2022 season.

LA Thieves

LA Thieves have had a lot of CDL roster changes in 2021. Before the season began, they had quite a few changes with even more happening throughout the season. Plenty Thieves are getting benched regularly, and since the season ended, TJHaLy, John, SlasheR, and Venom have all left the team. Octane, Envoy joined in their place. This is a pretty new roster, but they still have two longer standing active players. Kenny and Drazah have both been with the team quite a bit longer.

Paris Legion

Paris have followed a few other teams this season by releasing their full roster. However, they’re yet to make anything firm about who they’re getting on board to replace their old squad. Paris are still an open book for the year, and fans are probably hoping their new roster is a big more successful than their last.

Seattle Surge

Seattle have already released their full roster and brought in a new one for the 2022 season. Their new squad is going to be Accuracy, Mack, Pred, and Sib. However, they’ve also brought in a new coach and general manager, Fenix and Novus. It is a season of change at Surge, and if you’re looking at Call of Duty League betting then this new squad could be what they need to get ahead next season.

Toronto Ultra

Toronto have so far had little change to their roster. They’ve brought in Hicksy as a substitute but made no changes to their main active roster. This shows some confidence in the team that they’ve put together. With so many big changes elsewhere, we’ll have to see if this consistency pays off for them.

In the end, we are once again looking at a similar pattern with CDL teams as previous seasons. Too many teams opt-out for full re-builds instead of retaining a core and building up. The shift to a new CDL title each season is not helping either, as player performance greatly varies from one title to the other.

All of this makes early season betting on the CDL almost impossible. The next time we make predictions with confidence will be probably around March 2022. Until then, we will keep you updated on each teams’ progress and how they are progressing in their preparations for the upcoming season.