We are three weeks away from the first Call of Duty World League event of the year and OpTic Gaming is coming in as one of the favorites to take first place. As the organization with the biggest fan base in Call of Duty, Optic always seems to be one of the favorites to win events. Is the hype around the team this year deserved?
2k Tournaments
Optic’s Seth “Scump” Abner, Ian “Crimsix” Porter, Damon “Karma” Barlow, Thomas “TJHaly” Haly, and Brandon “Dashy” Otell have taken first place in both of the first two CWL 2K online tournaments for Black Ops 4. If you’re a fan of competitive Call of Duty, you know not to put too much stock into online performances. More than most other esports, online CoD is very connection-based and online placements don’t always translate into success on LAN.
But what if the winning team doesn’t lose a single map? That’s exactly what happened in the first 2K tournament. Optic finished the two-day competition with a map count of 27-0. In the semifinals, they took down rivals eUnited 3-0 and went on to sweep the team of Michael “SpaceLy” Schmale, Jared “Nagafen” Harrell, Colt “Havok” McLendon, Michael “MajorManiak” Szymaniak, and Chance “Maux” Moncivaez in the final.
NO. MAPS. DROPPED.
We are your Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 MLG 2k
🏆C H A M P I O N S🏆
GG BOYS
@OpTic_Scumper @OpTic_Crimsix
@OpTic_DKarma @DashySZN @TJHaLy #GREENWALL pic.twitter.com/AnEJVYkIUh— OpTic Gaming™ (@OpTic) November 6, 2018
Optic continued its hot streak this past weekend, winning the second 2K tournament with a 3-0 over James “Clayster” Eubanks’ eUnited squad yet again.
WW2 to Black Ops 4
OpTic Gaming is no stranger to being the favorite coming into a tournament or new season. During WW2, the championship squad of Scump, Crimsix, Karma, and Matthew “FormaL” Piper were the favorites to win events and compete for CWL Champs. That is far from what happened. After a series of disputes and poor CWL placements, the team parted ways with FormaL and benched Karma for the rest of the year. Members of Optic were vocal about disliking WW2 and it showed by the amount of practice the team put in. Optic rarely played when not playing league matches or team scrims.
Optic’s biggest Achilles heel has always been Search and Destroy. When they win, they typically win Search and Destroy. When they lose, it’s because they lose Search and Destroys. In WW2, OpTic Gaming lost a lot of SnD matches. In the last two CWL events of WW2 Optic went a combined 1-5 in SnD maps. Optic finished top 8 out of eight teams and top 24 in its last two events, respectfully.
In Black Ops 4, the green wall has been grinding the game almost every day. The new roster hasn’t had nearly as many disputes and everyone seems to enjoy playing this iteration of CoD.
This new OpTic Gaming roster also has a lot of promise in Search and Destroy this year. TJHaly and Dashy are two very strong SnD players. At WW2 Champs, Dashy finished the event with the 11th best kill/death ratio with 1.36. Put them next to three of the biggest names in CoD and you have yourself a more well balanced team. In the latest 2K, Optic took down eUnited 6-4 in Search and Destroy, a team that finished WW2 with an SnD record of 8-5 in the last two events of the year.
CWL Las Vegas will take place December 7-9.
Featured image courtesy of @OpTicGaming
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