CoD pros hit out over Vanguard sniper ban in Call of Duty League

Call of Duty pros and the wider community are once again frustrated after plans were revealed for snipers to be banned in competitive play and the CDL.

During the Black Ops Cold War season, pros opted to leave snipers out of competitive play completely for the first time in CoD esports history, much to the disappointment of players, fans, and the community at large.

The belief, at the time, was that snipers were overpowered, resulting in the pros making a Gentleman’s Agreement (GA) to simply not use them.

So with the pros themselves opting to remove snipers, you would think there wouldn’t be any backlash — but the situation is causing a huge divide among Call of Duty’s elite.

Each year, while certain things are banned in the game itself, such as shotguns, certain killstreaks and some perks, the pros also devise their GA list. These are things that are deemed uncompetitive and therefore unsuitable for pro play.

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On January 12, just a week before the 2022 CDL season’s Kickoff Classic event, it was revealed that all 12 teams voted unanimously to GA snipers for the second year in a row.

Before long, though, it became clear that not everyone was happy with the change, including pros that apparently voted in favor.

Eli ‘Standy’ Bentz said that he “didn’t mind if it was in” despite the fact he doesn’t snipe. LA Thieves’ Sam ‘Octane’ Larew added that he wanted snipers in too.

Meanwhile, Anthony ‘Shotzzy’ Cuevas-Castro revealed that the OpTic Texas team actually wanted to keep snipers in, but voted to remove them in order to have a better chance of smoke grenades staying in.

There was clearly some confusion between pros, their coaches, and further afield about the sniper ban, even streaming superstar and former CWL commentator Jack ‘CouRage’ Dunlop simply said that the decision “sucks.”

With the sniper GA enforced once again, and several pro players unhappy or confused by the decision, it’ll be interesting to see whether it’s reversed throughout the season.