As if the Call of Duty League offseason wasn’t crazy enough already, one of the scene’s most prominent players just spiced it up even more. Damon “Karma” Barlow, most recently of the Seattle Surge, retired from the CDL earlier this season. He cited performance reasons and a simple lack of desire to play Modern Warfare as his logic behind the decision. However, with the CDL moving to 4v4, where Karma has three world championships, some speculated he could return. Well, nothing is confirmed, but the Three-Time is fueling these rumors with some recent tweets.
Karma coming out of retirement for the 2021 season?
It should be stated that there are no concrete sources behind this speculation. Karma has simply been tweeting some hints that could tease a return to competitive Call of Duty. However, the world champ has been known to troll on social media, so all of this could be practice in sarcasm.
Although, the move to 4v4 adds some real weight to this speculation. Karma has won all of his world championships with that format and has made it known that he dislikes 5v5. Also, Karma has traditionally been better at Black Ops titles, which is what the 2021 season will feature.
In regards to the tweets, Karma recently tweeted out that he played Black Ops Cold War early. The only people invited to this early capture event were professional players and content creators. Karma isn’t too big on content creation, which added to the rumor mill.
— Damon B (@DKarma) September 8, 2020
In the tweet above, the GIF is of John Wick saying “Yeah, I’m thinking I’m back.” This could be sarcasm or a way of stating that he’s good at a Call of Duty game again. It’s well-documented that Karma didn’t have the best season in Modern Warfare stats-wise.
As of right now, it wouldn’t be a huge shock if Karma tried to make a comeback. However, with teams getting rid of entire rosters for 4v4, the competition for a starting spot will be fierce. If Karma were to come out retirement, it would need to be for a starting spot only, not a substitute role. Although, perhaps a coaching role could be acceptable to the Three-Time if the right opportunity presented itself. We’ll just have to wait for free agency on September 14 for answers.
Make sure to keep up with Daily Esports for all CDL news.
