One of CoD’s most controversial mechanics, snaking, has been voted out by CDL teams based on a Gentleman’s Agreement on Nov. 29, according to CDL Intel.
All twelve pro CoD teams sided with the decision to flag snaking via tweets and personal messages, with Boston Breach’s Austin “SlasheR” Liddicoat leading the vote. The voting process was streamed live on FaZe content creator Thomas “ZooMaa” Paparatto’s Twitch (time stamped at 6:11).
The decision to vote snaking out from competitive comes a couple of weeks after Sledgehammer Games revealed it’s “actively investigating” the mechanic for Modern Warfare 3 while intending to strike a balance between players who snake and players who have to kill them.
That being said, within minutes of voting to keep snaking out of competitive MW3, Carolina Royal Raven’s James “Clayster” Eubanks broke the GA by using the mechanic in a scrim. Upon being called out by pro players and fans for breaking the agreement, Clayster said, “LMFAO it was first game alright it takes a little bit to get out of ur system.”
For those unaware, snaking is a movement tactic performed by spamming the crouch and prone actions while stationed behind an object or barrier, letting the player gather crucial intel on what’s happening on the other side. Why is it controversial? Well, it’s incredibly hard to kill a player who’s snaking, which is also why Sledgehammer is looking to “balance” the mechanic without removing it.
Since snaking is technically not bannable according to CDL’s official ruleset. A Gentlemen’s Agreement is the only fair way to keep the mechanic out of CoD competitive. That said, there aren’t many consequences for breaking a Gentleman’s Agreement, so it might not be long before we see pros (Clayster already did it) snaking in scrims and tournaments again.
