100 Thieves is finally set to debut in the Call of Duty League. The news broke a few days ago via Dexerto, where we learned the team had actually purchased the franchise slot previously held by OpTic Gaming Los Angeles.
OpTic Gaming founder Hector "H3CZ" Rodriguez purchased the IP from Immortals Gaming Club and then sold it to 100 Thieves founder Matt "Nadeshot" Haag.
As a result, 100 Thieves is not only joining the CDL, but it's rebranding to the Los Angeles Thieves, just in time for the beginning of the new Black Ops Cold War season.
While there hasn't yet been an official announcement, this is a massive turn of events for 100 Thieves as well as the Call of Duty League. Before the CDL could even get underway, Nadeshot took to social media with a video explaining why the 100 Thieves organization would not be participating in the inaugural league. A visibly upset Nadeshot took it upon himself to explain.
To participate in the league, all participating organizations must pony up a massive $25 million to Activision Blizzard. For any outfit, even 100T, that's a large wager to front. While Call of Duty is still one of the largest competitive games on the scene, there's no guarantee that 100 Thieves could have recouped the costs and profited from participating last year.
Nadeshot said joining the CDL at the time would have been a major risk to 100 Thieves, especially given the CDL's minimum annual salary of $50,000 per player. Nadeshot also listed a few issues he had with the Call of Duty League in general beyond monetary issues. The main one was the franchise city commitment. Teams must move to a city and adopt their name, hence the Los Angeles Thieves brand.
Previously, these bullet points and more were just part of the reasons the team wouldn't join the CDL. Now, it seems all of these protestations have dissipated. While it isn't clear where the funds came from that made this possible (many believe they came from releasing the 100 Thieves CS:GO roster), it seems Nadeshot reversed his position.
All of this makes for an interesting turn of events, as we'll likely see the team make a name for themselves when the CDL continues in 2021.
According to Dexerto, here's the expected 2021 roster for the newly-crowned LA Thieves:
- Austin ‘SlasheR’ Liddicoat
- Kenny ‘Kuavo’ Williams
- Thomas ‘TJHaLy’ Haly
- Zack ‘Drazah’ Jordan
VIP Escort is the newest competitive, team-based, objective mode from Treyarch's latest installment in the COD series. Learn these ten tips and tricks to survive, eliminate the enemy, and win more rounds.
