Dallas Empire drop Clayster ahead of 4v4 CDL switch in 2021 season Robert Paul for Activision Blizzard[jwplayer sD84salO] Just days after winning the first-ever Call of Duty League Championship, the Dallas Empire are dropping veteran James \u2018Clayster\u2019 Eubanks ahead of the CDL\u2019s switch to a 4v4 format for Black Ops Cold War. Clayster\u2019s Dallas Empire dominated Atlanta FaZe 5-1 in the CDL Championship Weekend Grand Final on Sunday, August 30, on their way to being crowned champions of the league\u2019s inaugural season. Just a day later, the CDL announced that the official competitive format would be reverted to 4v4 for the 2021 season and possibly beyond, which meant that one from the Empire\u2019s title-winning roster would have to be demoted. After reports of Clayster\u2019s demotion began to surface, the three-time World Champion announced that he is, indeed, the odd man out, declaring himself a restricted free agent ahead of the 2021 season. Restricted F\/A for CDL 2021 Season Read: https:\/\/t.co\/OTkf7S7FiG \u2014 Clayster (@Clayster) September 1, 2020 \u201cEmpire decided to move with the other four for next year, and I genuinely hold nothing against the org or the players,\u201d he tweeted. \u201cOnly can blame myself for not doing more to secure my spot and the league for making this decision. Pretty heartbroken with how things turned out.\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t want to blow up Twitter, but man this is heart-wrenching for me,\u201d he continued. \u201cSpent all night sobbing and chain-smoking cigarettes. Feels super sh**ty to give it my all, to accomplish something, obtain that goal, then get put back into the mix like it was all for nothing. Just want security, man.\u201d Read More: CDL 2020 end-of-season Power Rankings – Following the announcement, Team Envy and Dallas Empire owner Mark \u2018Hastr0\u2019 Rufail made it clear that the decision stemmed solely from the switch to 4v4, and that Clayster would be signed to a long-term deal if that wasn\u2019t the case. If we were still 5v5, I\u2019d be trying to sign this guy to a 4 year contract extension right now. Damn, I\u2019m going to miss you dude. @Clayster https:\/\/t.co\/4GbNiKlkIP \u2014 Mike Rufail (@hastr0) September 1, 2020 Clayster expressed similar sentiments when speaking in Empire\u2019s post-Champs press conference on September 1, calling the format switch \u201cheartbreaking\u201d for whoever doesn\u2019t make the cut. \u201cNobody on this team deserves to be dropped,\u201d he said. \u201cWe all worked so hard this year, we all put in equal contributions all year round. It\u2019s going to be heartbreaking for whoever it is. I almost even want to be the one to go, just so them four can play together.\u201d It\u2019s not clear whether or not he had been told of the decision prior to addressing the media. \u201cNobody on this team deserves to be dropped.””@Clayster says that removing one of @DallasEmpire’s players will be “”heartbreaking”” as the CDL moves to 4v4. pic.twitter.com\/x4wPJ7yhzv \u2014 Dexerto Esports (@DexertoEsports) September 1, 2020 What\u2019s next for Clayster? In order to properly speculate on Clay\u2019s future, we first have to look at what restricted free agency means. In essence, he is free to sign with any organization that offers him a contract, but if the Empire choose to do so, they can match that offer and retain him on their roster as a substitute. Read More: CDL pros split on surprise move back to 4v4 – That said, it\u2019s highly unlikely that the organization will do that, not only because they\u2019ve officially announced the roster change, but also because it would go against the player\u2019s best interests if he does indeed get an opportunity to start for another franchise. With the heaviest of hearts we are forced to let go of an absolute legend. We will be forever proud and grateful. Thank you, @Clayster. \u2014 Dallas Empire (@DallasEmpire) September 1, 2020 For Clayster, this seems to be a case of history repeating itself, as the three-time World Champion found himself in a similar situation following his 2019 triumphs with eUnited. Franchising went into effect almost immediately after eUnited won CoD Champs in 2019 and their roster was split apart, with the five players going to four different teams for the 2020 season. Eubanks managed to overcome that challenge with the Empire, assembling a powerful squad that was the last one standing after the 2020 campaign was all said and done, but now he\u2019ll have to do that again if he\u2019s to contend for a third-straight world championship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dallas Empire drop Clayster ahead of 4v4 CDL switch in 2021 season Robert Paul for Activision Blizzard[jwplayer sD84salO] Just days after winning the first-ever Call of Duty League Championship, the Dallas Empire are dropping veteran James \u2018Clayster\u2019 Eubanks ahead of the CDL\u2019s switch to a 4v4 format for Black Ops Cold War. Clayster\u2019s Dallas Empire […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31368\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}