After an illustrious 16-year career as a professional Call of Duty player, James ‘Clayster’ Eubanks officially announced his retirement.
Some Call of Duty fans hoped Clayster would return for another Call of Duty League season with Black Ops 6. Unfortunately, that won’t be the case, as he confirmed that he is retiring from competing.
“I’ll never be able to truly thank everyone involved, but from the bottom of my heart,” Clayster said. “Thank you to everyone who made pro CoD a possible career path.”
Clayster walks away as one of the all-time greatest Call of Duty players, winning three world championship rings tied for the best with Crimsix and Karma. In addition, an X Games Gold medal and 20 major tournament wins rank among the best for North American players.
Gratitude 🙏 pic.twitter.com/0gJz3ITb7b
— Clayster (@Clayster) October 23, 2024
Despite achieving a long and accomplished career, success was never a guarantee for Clayster, as he mentioned in his retirement video.
It wasn’t until Black Ops 2 in 2013 that he truly broke onto the scene with CompLexity. That team went on to become the first dynasty in competitive CoD history, and Clayster was part of the team for the first part of the historic run.
In 2015, Clayster won his first world championship with Denial and then won back-to-back championships with eUnited and Dallas Empire in 2019 and 2020.
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The final few CDL seasons didn’t go quite as planned, bouncing between different rosters and even spending one season in Challengers. Clayster admitted that the last two seasons weren’t up to his standards, but there were still glimpses of his prime on the main stage.
This retirement marks the end of an iconic Call of Duty era, as the top eight winningest players have now walked away.
“I feel blessed to have the career I have had,” Clayster said. “The fan base I have had is a dream come true for a kid from a small town in Virginia.”
Playing in this upcoming season was an option, but Clayster discussed the thought process behind his decision.
“I really wanted to play going into this year,” Clayster said. “It sucks that I don’t get to put my positive energy into another year, but there are other things I can do.”
Clayster didn’t confirm what he would be doing next but said that there would be more details about the next venture in the upcoming weeks.