CDL pros reportedly vote to stick with hated map over new one, to everyone’s surprise

The Call of Duty League’s map pool will not be replacing Al Bagra Fortress with Himmelmatt Expo, according to a report by CDL Intel.

The new map that made its way into Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s Season Two Reloaded update was a potential replacement for the maligned Al Bagra Fortress on the Control game mode, but CDL teams apparently did not vote to make a change.

It’s difficult to think of a competitive CoD map in recent memory that’s been hated more than Al Bagra Fortress, especially on Control. The dislike for it is universal across pro players, Ranked Play players, and CDL spectators alike for its design that lends itself to easy spawn traps.

Treyarch even added Himmelmatt Expo into Ranked Play this past weekend to give players a chance to try it out on Control and Search and Destroy, but the dev said tonight that it’s been removed.

Allegedly, the CDL teams did not vote to remove Al Bagra in favor of Himmelmatt because they didn’t play the new map in scrimmages enough to decide or didn’t want to learn an all-new map several months into the season, so Al Bagra Fortress is apparently here to stay.

It also appears that the vote was likely not unanimous, as Atlanta FaZe star SlasheR replied to CDL Intel’s tweet saying “I tried,” leaving fans to wonder which teams and players voted to keep Al Bagra Fortress in rotation.

Al Bagra Fortress will pop back up again when the Call of Duty League returns for its Major IV qualifiers this weekend, starting with Boston Breach vs. Vegas Legion on March 31 at 2pm CT.

Update on March 28 at 9:01pm CT: Not so fast. It appears that there’s been a change of heart among the players, or perhaps the community backlash won out, but it seems like Himmelmatt Expo will be replacing Al Bagra Fortress in the Control map pool.