According to multiple sources, French esports organization Gentle Mates are plotting to take the Call of Duty League spot currently owned by LA Guerrillas, and plan to sabotage the LA Thieves “god squad” deal in the process.
On September 18, Dexerto reported that LA Thieves are working on a deal to sign Thomas ‘Scrappy’ Ernst and Dylan ‘Envoy’ Hannon from Toronto Ultra, as well as Cloud9 New York’s Paco ‘HyDra’ Rusiewiez and coach Troy ‘Sender’ Michaels.
This would make them one of the most dominant teams in the league on paper and instant championship contenders alongside current Thieves star Daniel ‘Ghosty’ Rothe.
However, that deal could be thrown into disarray, as the Gentle Mates are looking to get into the league by acquiring the LA Guerrillas spot. They’re looking to make an instant impact by sabotaging Thieves’ “God Squad” chances.
Sources have claimed that Gentle Mates have already started pushing for Scrap and HyDra to join them, causing a slowdown in negotiations as all parties work to get the best outcome.
It is understood that Scrap also prefers to keep Envoy alongside him in his next move, though the SMG could instead choose to stay in Toronto.
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Negotiations are expected to be resolved within the next week at the time of writing, as other teams have started to secure signatures for their own rosters and are looking ahead to the upcoming season.
It is unclear at this time who would round out any proposed Gentle Mates squad. Even with just Scrappy and HyDra signed on, they will have immense pulling power with just about any other player in the world and could make them an immediate force.
While it can not be confirmed right now that the spot belongs to Gentle Mates, they are clearly confident in the fact that they will be joining the CDL.
Other organizations have held conversations with LA Guerrillas and different CDL franchises about acquiring their spots, including fellow French team Karmine Corp. This could mean we see more than one organizational change in the not-too-distant future.
Gentle Mates were one of the Challenger organizations that competed alongside the pros at the Esports World Cup in Saudi Arabia, with a roster of Harry, Bance, Denza, and Cobra. Now, they want to go one step further and be a real championship contender as a partnered league franchise.