Scump calls for new CDL roster change rules after LA Thieves bench SlasheR
ActivisionOpTic Chicago’s Seth ‘Scump’ Abner has called for changes to the Call of Duty League roster rules, shortly after it was announced that LA Thieves would be benching Austin ‘SlasheR’ Liddicoat for the Stage 2 Major.
The news that SlasheR would be demoted from the starting Thieves line-up shook the CoD esports community. He is arguably one of the best players in recent years and seemed pretty much undroppable.
He was replaced by Zack ‘Drazah’ Jordan, the second LA Thieves roster change of Stage 2, after they picked up Carlos ‘Venom’ Hernandez to replace Donovan ‘Temp’ Laroda.
With so much swapping and changing occurring in the league throughout Stage 2, Scump has called for changes to be made.
ActivisionAppearing on the OpTic Podcast, Scump — joined by Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper, Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez and Nick ‘MaNiaC’ Kershner — got onto the topic of LA Thieves.
After briefly discussing the roster swap, Scump let his thoughts be known. “I don’t think it should be allowed during a Stage,” the OpTic star said. “They should have to play with that team the rest of the Stage, unless it’s an emergency or health thing.”
With H3CZ challenging this opinion, Scump continued: “They shouldn’t be allowed to switch someone in mid-Major…They’re about to go into the Major with a different team that they played the whole Stage with!”
(For mobile users, timestamp at 18:50)
While LA Thieves did make two roster changes during Stage 2, only Venom was a new acquisition. Drazah was the team’s substitute since the start of the season, and has proven exactly why CDL teams have a substitute or two.
Rules around roster changes aren’t exactly clear. By the looks of it, franchises can pick up and drop players whenever they want, providing contracts are respected.
This could raise some questions going forward, and make the CDL reconsider how they allow roster changes to happen. For now, though, LA Thieves are looking to reap the rewards at the CDL Stage 2 Major.