Clayster addresses “hate” over Black Ops Cold War’s Control mode

Brad Norton
Clayster playing Black Ops Cold War

Black Ops Cold War’s Control game mode has come under fire lately but 2020 Call of Duty League champion James ‘Clayster’ Eubanks has explained why the “hate” is overblown.

Each and every year in competitive CoD there are three modes in rotation. Both Hardpoint and Search and Destroy are often staples with each annual release. However, the third mode is usually in rotation depending on what’s available. The 2019 season saw Domination make a return, for instance.

This time around, Control is that third key playlist. This means all pro competitions throughout the upcoming season will feature the mode across an assortment of maps. It’s just the second time in CoD history that Control has appeared after its introduction in 2018’s Black Ops 4.

While it was received well throughout its initial run, leading to some of the most exciting moments of the year, it’s relaunch in Cold War hasn’t been received quite as well. After a few days of backlash on social media, Clayster has explained why the “hate” isn’t justified.

Black Ops 4 gameplay
Control first appeared in Black Ops 4, and now it’s back in Cold War.

Now that the community is settling into Treyarch’s new release, a proper meta has started to emerge. Assault Rifles outright dominate the game in its current form. As a result, Control can be challenging and players have been quick to voice their frustrations.

“If there is no way to fix how hard it is to win Offenses, why wouldn’t a game mode like demolition or CTF be a possibility for mode three?” Reddit user ‘jaydubb2’ questioned. With so many ARs set up on Defense, it can be extremely tough to break into capture points on Offense.

However, Clayster believes the “hate” for the mode is a bit too much. Rather than complaining, players should instead “figure out how to win Offense,” he stressed. “Not just say it’s chalked, Defense wins. There are methods.”

If these issues are patched over time, with spawns being dialed in and the capture time adjusted, Control could be back to the explosive mode it was in Black Ops 4. “Control I feel like is a competitive game-mode from the core up,” Clayster added.

The mode isn’t perfect in its current state, but with a few simple tweaks, it could be better than ever, according to the three-time world champion. “Honestly, there’s a couple Narnia spawns that will be (hopefully) cleaned up and with 45s capture time, offense becomes much easier.” 

Early impressions have clearly been negative towards the mode. However, there’s still plenty of time for things to change ahead of the CDL 2021 season.

Related Topics

About The Author

Brad Norton is the Australian Managing Editor at Dexerto. He graduated from Swinburne University with a Bachelor’s degree in journalism and has been working full-time in the field for the past six years at the likes of Gamurs Group and now Dexerto. He loves all things single-player gaming (with Uncharted a personal favorite) but has a history on the competitive side having previously run Oceanic esports org Mindfreak. You can contact Brad at brad.norton@dexerto.com