After a disappointing finish at the Call of Duty League Stage 2 Major, the New York Subliners are reportedly looking at a roster shake up. According to reliable sources, the organization is bringing a substitute up, benching one of two players and making changes to the academy team in one fell swoop.
The original reporting on the situation comes from CDL Intel, or Corey “Crone” Davis. He’s claimed that New York is promoting the French rookie Paco “HyDra” Rusiewiez to the starting roster. HyDra was originally set to start for the Subliners this year but was placed on the bench after visa issues caused him to miss Stage 1.
Those issues have since been resolved but he was left waiting on the bench after New York’s impressive run in Stage 1-2. That run came to an end when the Subliners failed to win a series at the Stage 2 Major, leading to his apparent promotion.
According to CDL Intel, HyDra initially replaced Makenzie “Mack” Kelley on the starting roster. This led to a debacle in the CDL Challengers scene, as Mack reportedly replaced Chris “Parasite” Duarte on an amateur team hours before roster lock of the qualifiers for the Season 3 Elite.
“I give up one hour before roster lock. A team I put together. What the f*** is the point anymore,” Parasite said on April 15. Mack supposedly took his spot on a roster headlined by Daunte “Sib” Gray and Luis “Fire” Rivera.
F/A got sketched on by my so called friends. No loyalty in this space nowadays regardless of how much I do for others, how well I play or anything. Once again I am fkn mind blown.
— Chris (@Parasite) April 15, 2021
Shortly after this fiasco ensued though, Mack was apparently called back up to the Subliners starting roster. This supposedly sent Conor “Diamondcon” Johst down to the New York academy team, replacing Hamza “Hamza” Shaikh. The latter part of this news is official, as confirmed by Hamza and his teammate Renato “Saints” Forza on Twitter.
So got news days today that I will be getting cut from the academy team this is twice were my team has been forced to make a change. Now I gotta sit here the day before an elite and try to find a roster or sit out all of S3 Elite nice baby 👍
— GloFrosty (@HamzaFrosty) April 19, 2021
Hours later, however, and there’s been another apparent roster change. Hamza revealed that he’s been reinstated to the academy team, which leaves the community in an utter state of confusion.
“Update will be playing with NYSL AC for S3 Elite. Got s*** to prove,” Hamza exclaimed just hours after being cut. As of right now, the Subliners academy team is the same it’s been for most of this season.
At this time, no one quite knows the starting roster for the New York Subliners professional team. It’s likely that HyDra is now on the roster but the fourth spot is a mystery. The latest intel says that Mack has been scrimmaging with the pro roster as early as this week.
The team has yet to confirm or deny any of these changes. Although, with Stage 3 of the CDL starting on April 22, there should be official news within the coming days. As for the academy team, they’ll look to continue their dominance of the Challengers scene in the Season 3 Elite starting on April 20 and NA Challengers Cup #13 on May 1.
