UYU’s announcement of a roster change for the Call of Duty pro team has created a heavy stir of controversy as several prominent pro players have publicly lashed out at the org.
On January 30, UYU announced that Anthony ‘Methodz’ Zinni, their newly acquired substitute for CWL Pro League, was to be promoted to the starting team, trading places with Tristan ‘Spoof’ Green.
This immediately garnered a negative reaction from the community since the news had come as a total surprise to Spoof, who will be losing his status as a pro player without having played a single pro match.
Some of the biggest names in the scene were quick to take shots at the org, calling them unfaithful and bashing them for turning their backs on a player who had been a big reason why the team had qualified for the Pro League in the first place.
Things got even messier when Spoof revealed that the players’ had decided to pick up Parasite as their substitute, not Methodz, but the organization’s higher-ups overruled that decision and went with the latter.
We chose Haggy and UYU chose Methodz. Said it would help with sponsorship requests equating to more money for us (Being an underpaid team) Team had no idea UYU’s plans for it until last night then they voted me out.
— TRISTAN (@TristanSpoof) January 30, 2019
This decision was openly questioned by Team Envy’s Patrick ‘ACHES’ Price, who surmised that the org had ulterior motives to making this move.
Haggy has a much bigger following than Methodz on almost every platform, you had to know something was fishy from the RIP https://t.co/fbEn1apH4y
— Patrick Price (@ACHES) January 30, 2019
Red Reserve player Trei ‘Zer0’ Morris was not very kind in his assessment of UYU, calling it a “dodgy place to be.”
Interested to see what will ho on during the league, UYU seems like a dodgy place to be.
— Trei S0ngz (@TreiZer0) January 30, 2019
He also was very concerned about the lack of job security for competitive CoD players, claiming that many organizations will look to profit from players then leave them in the dust.
Cant buy abit of security for players nowadays orgs be real booky in 2019 teej, tryna secure a bag then dip on everyone
— Trei S0ngz (@TreiZer0) January 30, 2019
OpTic Gaming’s Seth ‘Scump’ Abner responded to Zer0’s tweet with a prediction that a roster change this early would only spell doom for everyone else that’s currently on the UYU roster.
They dropped one before any matches lol. It’s gonna be a ffa after the unlock date
— Seth Abner (@OpTic_Scumper) January 30, 2019
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Scump’s OpTic teammate Thomas ‘TJHaLy’ Haly also responded to Zer0, and expressed his agreement by using a classic British slang that means “dodgy.”
these league teams are acting real bookie
— OpTic Teej (@TJHaLy) January 30, 2019
Parasite, the player who was supposedly in line to join UYU as their Pro League substitute, had a long series of tweets reacting to the whole fiasco.
This is a business yeah I’d be mad if it happened to me because I’m passionate about my job but regardless it’s a business and it should work like one. Still feel bad for anyone that gets left out but it is what it is bros. https://t.co/n1WGOdpNik
— Christopher Duarte (@Parasite) January 30, 2019
If this happened to me id be mad at my organization and the players for the decision NOT THE RULES. NOT CWL. NOT MLG https://t.co/nzMWKROLCV
— Christopher Duarte (@Parasite) January 30, 2019
That’s the last ill speak on the situation. I feel bad for players that get left out of situations like this. But like I’ve come to learn from the countless times I’ve been dropped on my ass, protect yourself in your contracts. Have a good day everybody.
— Christopher Duarte (@Parasite) January 30, 2019
Here are other reactions from some of the biggest names in the competitive CoD community, virtually all of whom were very displeased with UYU’s decision.
lame
— NV Justin Fargo uwu (@silly702) January 30, 2019
Methodz is my guy, but you guys as an organization are whack af to bench anyone if you qualified through pools and not even bracket.
— OpTic Ral (@Rallied) January 30, 2019
They were getting smoked and turned it around through crazy clutches. Spoof has been an AM for years and finally qualifies just to be robbed like that. That’s actually disgusting IMO. YEARS of grinding to be dropped for 150K more followers. WHACK.
— OpTic Ral (@Rallied) January 30, 2019
Uyu got Shane in his feelings pic.twitter.com/r6i6nj5aOZ
— Reedy (@Reedy_1905) January 30, 2019
With all this uYu talk, great time to promote my latest YouTube video!https://t.co/eStaDuLqqG pic.twitter.com/caUnfHu7al
— eU Clayster (@Clayster) January 30, 2019
This has always been a possibility in every pro league, every year, only thing that stops orgs from dropping players in this way is a contract clause. I also hope UYU as an org never finds success or support because regardless of legality and rules, its a dick move. :smiley:
— John (@JohnnyisTsunami) January 30, 2019