The Call of Duty League announced Monday that Season 2 of the CDL will be played in a four-on-four format instead of the five-on-five team structure of the inaugural season.
The news comes less than 24 hours after the Dallas Empire won the inaugural CDL championship, which was contested in a five-on-five format. Empire player James "Clayster" Eubanks posted a series of tweets on the subject, expressing that though COD is "far more tactical and easier to watch in 4v4," he is disappointed that he is not able to compete again with the entire Dallas team intact.
More: Every Call of Duty League championship map in a sentence | Dallas Empire win inaugural CDL title | Nerd Street Gamers and Spectacor to host all-women's VALORANT tournament
win champs, franchising happens, team breaks up.
— Empire Clayster (@Clayster) August 31, 2020
win champs, goes from 5v5 to 4v4, team breaks up.
gotta be the luckiest unlucko person on the planet
The four-on-four format was the established norm up until the 2018-19 season, which was played on Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and switched the pro experience to teams of five. It remained five-on-five through Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, but will move back to four-on-four for the upcoming season on Treyarch's Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.
Other pros seemed pleased to return to the four-on-four approach, although most also acknowledged that the Call of Duty pro landscape will be altered dramatically with the roster cuts needed to switch to that four-player team roster.
"They made the right call moving it to 4v4," former Call of Duty pro and commentator Anthony "NAMELESS" Wheeler said on Twitter. "Much better for players and viewers. Scary for the pros though... who's getting dropped?!"