LA Thieves officially announced as new team for Call of Duty League 2021

100 Thieves has officially joined the Call of Duty League 2021 with new team LA Thieves, which look set to replace OpTic Gaming LA. 

After Hector “H3CZ” Rodriguez was reported to have reacquired the OpTic Gaming brand, the potential for 100 Thieves to re-enter competitive Call of Duty was left on the table - with a conflict of interest preventing H3CZ from owning both OpTic Gaming LA and Chicago Huntsmen. 

Now it's been confirmed OpTic Gaming LA will be replaced by new 100 Thieves team LA Thieves - which was officially announced in a video on Twitter. 

The video shows 100 Thieves founder Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag show off the logo for the team, as well as briefly look over their notable history in competitive Call of Duty. 

• Read more: Call of Duty League and the gulf between developer and community

Announcing a new Los Angeles team for the competitive Call of Duty League in 2021. #LAThievespic.twitter.com/inO7TzNI7O

— LA Thieves (@LAThieves) November 6, 2020

100 Thieves were unable to join the first year of the rebranded Call of Duty League due to the steep entry fees, which Nadeshot said at the time could “jeopardise everything the company is doing”. 

In a statement to announce their return, Nadeshot said: “We won two Call of Duty championships in 2019 so our year away reminded us how amazing Call of Duty fans are, and how much we missed them.

“Our fans deserve the best Call of Duty team in the world - and we’re gonna do everything in our power to give it them.”

LA Thieves have joined the Call of Duty League (Picture: LA Thieves)

They also announced their starting roster, confirming Kenny “Kuavo” Williams, Thomas “TJHaLy” Haly and Austin “SlasheR” Liddicoat from OpTic Gaming LA will be on the line-up. 

Fellow OpTic Gaming LA player Zack “Drazah” Jordan will also be on board as a substitute. 

Joining Slasher and Ken on the starting roster is the Iceman himself, @TJHaLy!

Starting the year off as a sub will be the young gun @Drazah_.

Please welcome both to the LA Thieves! pic.twitter.com/yurbH3w9Q0

— LA Thieves (@LAThieves) November 6, 2020

LA Thieves will join LA Guerrillas as the second team based in Los Angeles, US. It was Dallas Empire however who became the 2020 champions, in a closely fought final with Atlanta FaZe.

LA Thieves roster

• Kenny “Kuavo” Williams
• Thomas “TJHaLy” Haly
• Austin “SlasheR” Liddicoat
• Zack “Drazah” Jordan (sub)

This announcement comes ahead of Call of Duty League’s season for Black Ops Cold War, which will also see teams switch to a 4v4 format and move to PC over consoles. 

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War releases on 13th November.