Call of Duty Vanguard pros “fighting a war” to save Auto Tac Sprint

Theo Salaun
call of duty vanguard censor pro tactical sprint

One Call of Duty: Vanguard setting has the entire competitive community in disarray. While casuals and Warzone pros use Auto Tac Sprint, CDL and Challenger pros are arguing about its ban.

Auto Tac Sprint (or, as it’s more typically known, ATS) was introduced with Modern Warfare 2019 and immediately became a point of debate in the Call of Duty League. In the inaugural season, the setting was banned by players, but, two years later, it’s up for discussion again.

Essentially, the MW engine – which Vanguard is also built on – allows for slide-canceling movement mechanics that are much easier with ATS enabled. Using ATS makes maintaining maximum speed a lot easier on the hands and controller, but some pros think it’s too easy.

While ATS isn’t part of the CDL’s initial ruleset, it’s become a divisive topic among pros’ Gentlemen’s Agreements (GAs). Apparently, Doug ‘Censor’ Martin is now “fighting a war” to keep it from being banned.

Call of Duty Vanguard pros wage war to protect Auto Tac Sprint

On default PS4 settings without ATS, a player would need to double-tap the left stick to initiate Tac Sprint, then double-tap slide and press jump to slide cancel, then double-tap left stick again to continue tac sprinting. In doing so, you’re able to constantly sprint at full speed since the slide cancel resets it.

With ATS enabled, all you have to do is hold forward on the left stick, slide cancel, and continue holding forward. It saves a bunch of extra clicks, making moving and finessing at top speeds a lot easier.

Somewhat understandably then, some like the setting. Like the Warzone scene, Censor wants CDL Challengers to allow ATS. Unfortunately, he’s “fighting a war” against many pros who despise Tac Sprint generally.

Call of Duty League champs flame Tac Sprint with sarcasm

The Atlanta FaZe are, until proven otherwise, the best team in Call of Duty. So it holds weight when their AR, Alec ‘Arcitys’ Sanderson, takes to Twitter to roast ATS. The 2021 champ said he was “so glad tac sprint is back.”

In the replies, his speedy SMG teammates, Tyler ‘aBeZy’ Pharris and Chris ‘Simp’ Lehr both similarly mocked the setting. Simp dropped a big smiley face, while aBeZy added a “so fun.”

It should go without saying that if pros don’t like Tac Sprint, they’re unlikely to enjoy a setting that makes it even easier to pull off. With just under two weeks until the first Challengers event, the time is ticking for Censor to convince his opposition that ATS shouldn’t be banned.

About The Author

Théo is a former writer at Dexerto based in New York and built on competition. Formerly an editor for Bleacher Report and philosophy student at McGill, he fell in love with Overwatch and Call of Duty — leading him to focus on esports for Dex.