On Sunday, January 8, OpTic Texas announced that Cuyler ‘Huke’ Garland had joined their CDL roster, replacing last season’s MVP runner-up Brandon ‘Dashy’ Otell. But what are Dashy’s options for the remainder of the Call of Duty League season?
Dashy is commonly looked at as one of the greatest raw talents in Call of Duty today. He was the star player for OpTic in the 2022 season and has frequently topped K/D charts throughout his career.
Now, though, he finds himself on the outside looking in, with no team to play for and no clear path back into the CDL, barring the need to step in as a substitute for OpTic Texas.
So what would be the best fit for him? Let’s look at some of the most and least likely options for his 2023 season.
New CDL team?
At the time of writing, it seems apparent that Dashy won’t be playing throughout Major 2, unless something wild happens and a team steps in with a big offer that OpTic can’t refuse. But which teams could be tempted to bring Dashy in, or may need to make changes at some point?
First, we can rule out teams unlikely to want to pay his buyout, which will still be a considerable amount of money despite his benching. That means we shouldn’t expect to see him representing Vegas Legion, London Royal Ravens, or Florida Mutineers for the foreseeable.
After that, we can rule out teams unlikely to make a change because of the talent on the squad they have, or because they already made changes. New York Subliners, Atlanta FaZe, Toronto Ultra, LA Guerrillas, and LA Thieves can be added to this list.
That leaves us with three remaining teams, not including OpTic Texas: Seattle Surge, Boston Breach, and Minnesota Røkkr.
Seattle Surge
Seattle could very well fit into the mold of ‘teams unlikely to make a change’, especially given their second-place finish at Major 1, but if things go south, they may look to bring a top AR slayer in to compliment their star players, Sib and Pred.
That said, the team is clearly on to something special, and they held on to Pred so as to
Boston Breach
Boston Breach played well in the M4 meta, but after it was taken out, their performances dropped off. Whether the M4 meta is the reason for that is unclear, but may become more apparent at Major 2.
The issue is, if Boston do decide to bring in a new assault rifle player, they already have Ben ‘Beans’ McMellon waiting in the wings, one of the most exciting Challenger players of recent years. He’s under contract and they won’t have to pay to promote him.
Minnesota Røkkr
That leaves us with Minnesota Røkkr, who built a great squad in the offseason but failed to perform to expectations at Major 1. The issue is that Attach is a franchise player for them, while Cammy is one of the most talented players in the game when he’s on. How much of an upside would they see by bringing Dashy in to replace either of those two, especially at a cost?
In short, right now it’s hard to see any other CDL team making the move to bring Dashy in, despite how great a player he is. Perhaps, after Major 2, things could start falling into place for him, but he will have to be patient and hope that teams either decide to dip into their wallets or don’t perform up to standards and want to make a change.
What about Challengers?
It’s almost unfathomable to imagine Dashy playing in Challengers, but for now, that might be his best option.
While he can still play 8s with other pros, if he’s looking to continue learning the game properly, he could easily slot onto a top Challengers team and be one of the best in the pit, and many of the players there would jump at the chance to make him a teammate.
It’s a long season, so it could be damaging to Dashy to sit out for too long, in case his stock starts falling and he ends up without a team or even any interest from CDL franchises.
The final option would be exactly that, though: sitting it out. Wait and see if anything happens, and hedge his bets that sooner rather than later, a team makes a move for him.
It’s a tough time for one of the shining stars of the CDL, and with many teams looking set with the rosters they have, it might not get much easier too soon.
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