Seattle Surge drop 6 players ahead of 4v4 CDL switch in 2021 season

[jwplayer br5AuoVJ]The Seattle Surge, one of the Call of Duty League’s most disappointing 2020 teams, have dropped nearly their entire roster in anticipation of the CDL’s switch to 4v4 for the 2021 season.

Following one of numerous September 4 roster announcements, Sam ‘Octane’ Larew appears to be the only Surge player left on their lineup, as the team has released Apathy, Slacked, Pandur, Proto, Enable, and TeddyRecKs.

This massive spree of player releases comes on the heels of the CDL announcing that the 2021 season will shift to a 4 vs. 4 format for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, and that there will be no expansion teams, despite initial hopes that there could be.

• Read more: LIVE: Call of Duty League off-season rostermania hub: all roster changes

Although this shift in format necessitated the loss of 12 starting spots around the league, teams like the Surge were already expected to experience massive roster upheaval. Seattle finished at 11th place in the regular season, with a 5-18 record and just a few more map wins than the 12th-place Los Angeles Guerrillas. Following that performance, it should be no surprise that the team wanted to shift into a different gear for 2021, but they at least seem enthusiastic about the move to 4 vs. 4.

Seattle Surge 2021 roster

• Sam ‘Octane’ Larew

Seattle Surge September 4 releases

• Casey ‘Pandur’ Romano
• Nicholas ‘Proto’ Maldonado
• Bryan ‘Apathy’ Zhelyazkov
• Ian ‘Enable’ Wyatt
• Josiah ‘Slacked’ Berry
• Ted ‘TeddyRecKs’ Kim

Now, Seattle will look to do what many fans have been hoping they would and build around Octane, who has a strong history as one of the most talented main AR players in competitive Call of Duty. His 2020 season was marked by a variety of controversies in which he criticized the league and, given the Surge’s abysmal finish at CDL Champs, ended up losing more money to fines than he gained from prize pools.

SMG players are highly coveted among the competitive Call of Duty ranks, so it will be very interesting to find out who Seattle finds to revamp their roster with. At the moment, CDL Challengers standouts are being joined by a variety of newly released pros in the free-agent pool, so there should be a lot of options to pick and choose from.

• Read more: Toronto Ultra trim roster to 4 with series of CDL rostermania cuts

While Seattle has yet to name any incoming additions, fans will be keeping their ears to the ground in anticipation of news. For all up-to-date roster movement, check out our CDL rostermania hub.