On June 21, Call of Duty League franchise Los Angeles Guerrillas announced that they would be dropping Martin ‘Cheen’ Chino from the starting roster, much to the dismay of fans, fellow pros and the wider community.
The Guerrillas are, barring a miracle, well out of contention to earn a spot at the Call of Duty Championships, the biggest event of the season.
As such, they appear to be trying something new, bringing Gears of War legend Billy ‘MentaL’ Putnam to the starting roster from the Academy team.
Stage V roster update: pic.twitter.com/bvEZ09RX3V
— Los Angeles Guerrillas (@LAGuerrillas) June 21, 2021
To much of the community, it makes sense that the Guerrillas, with little more to fight for in the season, would try out their less proven players and see if they strike gold.
What a lot are baffled by, though, is dropping Cheen, who has arguably been their best player since arriving on the starting roster in place of a departing Reece ‘Vivid’ Drost.
His AR presence has definitely helped the struggling Guerrillas where possible, but the problem seems to run much deeper than just one or two roster changes.
Many top names let their feelings known, though, including New York Subliners content creator and former pro Thomas ‘ZooMaa’ Paparatto, who vented his frustrations during a Twitch stream.
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As well as asking “who’s running this sh*t,” ZooMaa went on to say that “that team sucks f**king balls,” clearly not impressed with the decision.
Reverse Sweep host and 100 Thieves content creator Ian ‘Enable’ Wyatt shared a similar sentiment, saying that whoever makes these decisions for LAG is “trolling.”
Whoever runs the LAG camp gotta be trolling
— 100T Enable (@Enable) June 21, 2021
Another former LA Guerrillas man, Patrick ‘ACHES’ Price, shared his thoughts. After Cheen tweeted that the team “refuses to see the real issue,” ACHES responded saying that they “never will,” clearly implying deep-lying issues in the franchise.
Never will
— PATTYP (@ACHES) June 21, 2021
Regardless of whether or not this turns out to be the right decision, the community is flabbergasted and have made their minds up.
Cheen has long been a fan favorite, and many feel like this is a step in the wrong direction for an already struggling team.