Now that the Carolina Royal Ravens’ CDL season has ended, the organisation is sizing up the road ahead. It was revealed that the team is dropping James ‘Clayster’ Eubanks, one of the most veteran personalities in the Call of Duty esports scene and one of the most impactful competitors still actively playing. This means that the iconic player, who has been competing in Call of Duty for more than fifteen years, won’t appear at the Esports World Cup, where he was due to represent ReKTGlobal.
Following the release of the news, Clayster posted a string of emotional messages on Twitter, one of which mentioned the line ‘think it might be time.’ At the start of this CDL season, Clayster referenced retirement should he need to once again face the anxiety and politics of ‘Rostermania’.
End of an Era?
Clayster has spent many years at the top of his game, and in what could be considered his twilight years, he has remained a stalwart IGL in the Call of Duty League space. He has played through this season with the Carolina Royal Ravens, and while the team failed to make it to COD Champs, the squad contributed plenty of entertaining scenes to the year’s action.
To date, he has won three world championship titles, making him one of the winningest Call of Duty players of all time.
When the news regarding his departure from the Royal Ravens broke, Clayster said:
Really feel like my life has been crashing down over the last couple years and this just might be the final nail in the coffin. Immense sadness and so much regret when all I do is pour myself into my job and my loved ones, just never feel like it’s enough. No f***in point.
He then mentioned ‘disappearing’ social media rather than dealing with another period of desperately hoping he’ll be picked up by a team. Clay has long been known to wear his heart on his sleeve, being one of the most vocal players in the business. During the last Call of Duty League Major, Clay clashed with Toronto Ultra’s Thomas ‘Scrap’ Ernst, suggesting the young player should ‘kill himself’ after a bout of trash talk.
Claster capped off his slew of messages on Twitter by writing:
Any opportunities outside of playing bang my line, literally open to anything at this point. Think it might be time.
When this season kicked off, Clayster said he’d rather retire than go through Rostermania again. This is the between-season period that sees organisations mess with their rosters, and it typically results in many players being dropped – and hopefully picked up again by some other squad. Clayster was hoping he’d stick with the Royal Ravens during the off-season, but it’s clear that won’t be the case.
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