Call of Duty League officially bans several weapons and a new tactical ahead of Major 3, ranked play launch

The Call of Duty League’s 2023 ruleset has restricted a few of the more powerful items ahead of this weekend’s Stage Three online qualifiers.

In order to line up tomorrow’s launch of ranked play in Modern Warfare 2 with what the CDL pros are playing, the ruleset has added several new restricted items, including one of the most powerful tacticals in the game.

The CDL’s players have had a “gentleman’s agreement” to not use flash grenades in competitive matches since the season began in December. Now, it’s official, and players in the playlist won’t be able to use it in their ranked games either.

The addendum to the rules came this afternoon after last night’s version of the 1.3 ruleset, which also restricted several items on the gentleman’s agreement list. The items now included in the restricted list are the M4, Kastov-74u, and STB 556 assault rifles, Fennec 45 submachine gun, and the P890, .50 GS, Basilisk, and X13 Auto pistols. Newly-banned equipment includes the smoke grenade and drill charge.

This level of uniformity between the CDL and what anybody can play when they hop into the ranked playlist is attempting to recreate the experience as best as possible, with the help of the players crafting the ruleset with their own agreements.

Stage Three’s online qualifiers begin on Friday, Feb. 17, with Los Angeles Thieves taking on Vegas Legion. Season two of MW2 will add the title’s long-awaited ranked play game mode when it all begins tomorrow, Wednesday, Feb. 15.