Former Call of Duty pro and 100 Thieves founder Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag has thrown his thoughts into the debate around snipers in Black Ops 7, and whether they should be banned in the Call of Duty League.

In Call of Duty, a number of items and weapons are banned in the competitive rules for being anti-casual. This could be claymores, Proximity Mines, Shotguns, or anything else that could be considered to lower the skill ceiling.

Additionally, the pros have a list of Gentleman’s Agreements, also known as GAs, which they use to remove certain elements from the game, thereby leveling the meta playing field.

In recent years, one thing that has frequently been removed from professional play has been sniper rifles, much to the dismay of fans and some players. They’re considered too easy to use and can disrupt the flow of a map, with little to counter them, so the pros have added them to the GA list.

Snipers back in COD esports 🥹 pic.twitter.com/Ah5VtEGwt5

— Jacob Hale (@JakeHaleee) November 22, 2025

Snipers Stay In But Some Pros Aren’t Happy

This year, however, seems a little different. At the Monster Gaming Launch Invitational for the Black Ops 7 season, snipers and smoke grenades were permitted, creating some incredible viewing moments.

It didn’t take long for the GA conversation to rear its ugly head, though. Before the tournament had even ended, there were discussions across the community over whether snipers should be allowed.

100 Thieves star Thomas “Scrappy” Ernst replied to a post from veteran player Thomas “TJHaLy” Haly, saying that “SnD with snipers with aim assist is awful.”

Nadeshot then came back with an explanation of why he believes snipes should stay in.

“Y’all don’t like snipers in SND because you haven’t had to play against them in years,” he said. “You only hate how broken it can be because you know the shit that is happening on the map wouldn’t happen if they were GA’d.

“But after a few months, if you were forced to use snipers, that would be your new norm, and you’d get used to it. The game is different, yeah, but I genuinely believe the product is exponentially more fun for viewers with snipers on the map. It’s risk/reward for players; it’s not a god gun that just carries the map.”

Y’all don’t like snipers in SND because you haven’t had to play against them in years. You only hate how broken it can be because you know the shit that is happening on the map wouldn’t happen if they were GA’d. I understand that. But after a few months if you were forced to use…

— 100T Nadeshot (@Nadeshot) November 25, 2025

Shotzzy Says Entertainment is Paramount

Anthony “Shotzzy” Cuevas-Castro also responded to the tweet, saying that entertainment is more important than the competitiveness of sniper rifles at this moment in time.

He said, “Y’all don’t see the bigger picture; we are nothing without the scene.”

TJHaLy replied saying that if aim assist is removed from snipers then he would be happy to see it stay in.

Entertainment > Competitive yall don’t see the bigger picture we are nothing without the scene 😭😭

— OpTic Shotzzy (@Shotzzy) November 25, 2025

Naturally, the fans are very much on Shotzzy’s side. Sniping makes the game much more fun to watch, and viewers have spent years calling for snipers to be allowed in the game, while pro players make their own version of the esport and remove them.

No verdict has been communicated to the community since the Monster tournament, so it remains to be seen whether sniper rifles stay in. For now, though, it’ls looking positive.