The Call of Duty League’s OpTic Chicago owner Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez and Minnesota ROKKR pro Dillon ‘Attach’ Price explain how too many Gentleman’s Agreements in professional CoD are hurting the CDL and Challenger scenes.
With the 2021 CDL schedule announcement and the start of the next CoD Challengers season expected to take place in January, the hype surrounding 2021’s competitive scene continues to heat up.
On the December 26 episode of the Eavesdrop podcast, OpTic Chicago’s H3CZ sat down with veteran pro player Attach to discuss the upcoming season. One major concern for the owner and player is how Gentleman’s Agreements (GAs) could negatively affect the pro scene in 2021.
For those unfamiliar with the term, GAs are essentially unofficial agreements between all of the pro teams to not use certain weapons, perks, attachments, or anything that they collectively feel is too powerful to be competitive but aren’t banned in the official ruleset.
H3CZ kicks off the conversation by asking Attach what changes he wants to see in the 2021 season, specifically asking about Gentleman’s Agreements: “What’s up with all these GAs dude?”
Attach responded by criticizing the number of GAs currently in effect for the pro scene, confirming that “they’re getting a little crazy.” He brought up the most recent one regarding the AK74u Task Force barrel, which was called overpowered because it can kill opponents in three headshots.
Switching over to the topic of Challengers, he explained how amateur players are requesting restrictions for the AK47 assault rifle, KSP 45 SMG, and the 1911 sidearm: “I think the GAs are getting a little too out-of-hand right now.”
(For mobile users, segment starts at 39:00)
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Attach would like there to be a middle ground, but feels like there are some players who are abusing GAs for personal reasons.
“I feel like some people are just like I don’t like this gun, I want it gone,” he explained. “Maybe one team doesn’t want something gone . . . they’re just gonna get blacklisted?”
H3CZ and Attach both agree that the GA situation has gone too far. “It’s hurting the game,” H3CZ chimed in at one point, saying “now it’s becoming a spectacle.” The two also agree that a recent decision to restrict certain maps – specifically Crossroads – is also taking things too far.
Attach also pointed out how too many GAs can affect the viewing experience as well, wondering how casual viewers will feel if most of the guns they play with every day aren’t being used by the pros when they compete.
In addition, H3CZ called out the players who are asking for all of these bans to be implemented. The OpTic owner feels that some players who didn’t make a pro team or were cut during the switch to 4v4 are trying to use these GAs to boost themselves into a team’s starting lineup.
While some in the professional Call of Duty scene have major issues with the state of GAs and their effect on professional play, the practice has been in place for years and will likely continue. Just how far some players might try to take these agreements still remains to be seen.