Clayster accidentally reveals first GAs in Black Ops Cold War

Jacob Hale
clayster black ops cold war gentlemen's agreement

With a new competitive season in the Call of Duty world thanks to the launch of Black Ops Cold War, it means we get a whole new bunch of weapons, maps and, of course, Gentlemen’s Agreements.

Gentlemen’s Agreements, or GAs as they’re more commonly known, are a set of rules that the pros make among themselves, taking out things and making minor adjustments that they consider to not be competitive.

This usually means that we see certain guns out of play, but we’ve also seen it impact the equipment used in matches, such as grenades, as well as the likes of attachments that players can use.

While these aren’t always implemented on a strict level by the developer or the CDL itself, you’ll often see the pros themselves abiding by GAs — and it looks like we know the first set for Black Ops Cold War.

Checkmate Black Ops Cold War
Black Ops Cold War introduces a whole bunch of new challenges for competitors — including the GA list.

While waiting for a map to start, Clayster was flicking through his tabs when he accidentally opened one showing the current list of GAs.

Although this might change before the second season of the Call of Duty League officially kicks off, here’s what was on the list:

  • No Gearhead
  • Law Breaker (no overkill)
  • 2 Trophy Systems
  • 2 Assault Packs (but can’t use them)
  • 1 smoke grenade in respawn modes, 2 in Search and Destroy
  • No tactical rifles
  • No Thermal optics
  • No scorestreaks

Some of these would have been expected. Tactical rifles, for example, fall into a similar class as marskman rifles from previous games, which have always been GA’d. Similarly, limitations on smoke grenades and trophy systems were expected given how prevalent they clearly have been in competitive matches played so far.

Gearhead reduces Field Upgrade cooldown time and lets players carry two, which probably explains why they didn’t want it in, while Law Breaker allows players to use more than one perk from a certain group (Perk 1, Perk2, Perk3), but also lets players use any weapon class in either weapon slot.

The “No Overkill” specification is for exactly that: they don’t want players running around with a sniper and a submachine gun, for example.

Obviously, this list could change over time, and may look completely different when official matches roll around. We’ll just have to wait and see.

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About The Author

Jacob is Dexerto’s UK Editor and Call of Duty esports specialist. With a BA (Hons) in English Literature and Creative Writing, he previously worked as an Editor at Ginx TV. Jacob was nominated for Journalist of the Year at the 2023 Esports Awards. Contact: jacob.hale@dexerto.com.