New York Subliners Set To Replace Neptune

The Call of Duty League franchise, New York Subliners, is reportedly looking to make a roster change only two matches into the 2022 CDL season. As revealed, the Subliners are getting ready for the departure of Travis “Neptune” McCloud, who is nearing the exit doors.

As recently revealed, Neptune could be leaving New York Subliners in the coming days, just three months after he joined the CoD esports team. The 19-year-old joined the Subliners in October 2021 but could find himself out of the roster before the next round of matches.

Neptune made his CDL debut last season with the Florida Mutineers, who Neptune joined in January 2011. Unfortunately, the team struggled to achieve much in the league, while their only notable placement came in May when the Mutineers finished top-four in CDL 2021 Stage 3.

After a disappointing season with the Florida outfit, the Mutineers cut ties with Neptune, who found himself teamless in October. And while he has found a new team just two weeks later, Neptune’s days at the Subliners seem to be numbered.

The New York Subliners entered the 2022 CoD season with an entirely different roster, featuring two new signings in Neptune and Ian “C6” Porter. Meanwhile, Paco “HyDra” Rusiewiez and James “Clayster” Eubanks entered the 2022 season with the Subliners as the only two carryovers from 2021.

But despite adding new faces to form one of the most stacked rosters in the league, success was hard to come by for the yellow-and-black.

Still, the Subliners showed some good qualities in the pre-season tournament, the CDL Kickoff Classic. They won against Boston Breach (3-2) and Minnesota RØKKR (3-0) but couldn’t show up against the Seattle Surge (1-3), who eliminated them from the semis.

However, after a relatively solid performance n the CDL Classic, things turned sour for the New York squad, who went 0-2 across their opening matches of the 2022 CDL season. The Subliners first lost against Surge (0-3) and suffered a humiliating 1-3 defeat against Los Angeles Guerrillas on Sunday, February 6.

But even though the Subliners had played only two official games, the team supposedly feels like changes are needed. And those are expected to happen before Friday, February 11, when the next round of the CDL 2022 season kicks off.

As it stands now, the only thing we know is that the Subliners will part ways with Neptune. However, it remains to be seen who will replace the 19-year-old.

Some reports suggest the Subliners are looking to sign a CDL Challengers SMG player in the upcoming days. However, exactly who that might be is still unknown.

Still, we have some rumors and reports to work with to narrow down the list of possible replacements.

As revealed earlier this week, the New York Subliners were targeting a 24-year-old Canadian CoD esports pro player, Matthew “Royalty” Faithfull, to join the team ahead of the CDL Kickoff Classic. At the time, there was no agreement, but due to the recent events, Royalty seems like the most likely replacement for Neptune.

The 24-year-old is currently a free agent, playing for Team Canada in the CDL Challengers. But despite playing in the lower division, Royalty has previous experience in pro play.

He started his professional CoD career in 2014 and has since been a part of prominent esports organizations, including Epsilon Esports, 100 Thieves, Triumph, Enigma6, and Evil Geniuses. Most notably, Royalty won the 2020 North American Challenger Finals under Triumph Gaming.

Royalty spent the entirety of the 2021 season competing in CDL Challengers, where he has made a name for himself. Even though he fell short at the 2021 North American Challenger Finals, Royalty has made a name for himself as one of the best players in the division.

So while it remains to be seen whether the Subliners will sign Royalty, he seems like the most likely replacement for Neptune. That is even though the current roster in which Royalty is playing has been rumored to get signed to Toronto Ultra’s academy team.