Grant Taylor-HillEdit Profile
OpTic Gaming has secured the top spot at the Esports World Cup, beating Vancouver Surge in the grand final in Riyadh. It was a series reminiscent of the Call of Duty League Championship, which wrapped up in the same way mere weeks ago.
At the end of June, OpTic Texas sailed into first place at COD Champs, becoming the first team in Call of Duty esports history to secure back-to-back world titles. Now, the team has gone one step further, lifting the trophy in Riyadh at the Esports World Cup.
One Hell of a Run
COD Champs in Kitchener came down to a grand final between Vancouver Surge and OpTic Texas. The former team came in as the underdog and went the distance, putting up a performance that was reflective of a struggling season that saw too many second-place finishes.
OpTic Texas, on the other hand, stunned fans with a monumental upper bracket run after a mixy year that saw the team cement a historic loss record.
Now, OpTic Gaming has continued a staggering winning streak and lifted the trophy at the Esports World Cup in Riyadh.
OpTic secures a $600,000 grand prize, with Vancouver Surge walking away $320,000 richer.
This tournament was a dream for OpTic Gaming. The opening stage saw the team clash against Five Fears and Cloud9, producing two wins without dropping a single map. The playoffs proved to be a little tougher, but the squad was able to dispatch 100 Thieves and Team Heretics before hitting Vancouver Surge with a 4-0 sweep to finish things up.
The fixture against Team Heretics looked written in stone before a last-second turnaround that produced a reverse sweep for OpTic. Team Heretics snatched the opening Hardpoint with a 250-249 scoreline, and the round of Search was a choke for OpTic too, with Heretics sitting at 5-1 before pulling off five straight round wins.
The Control on Hacienda went 2-2 and down to the very final seconds before OpTic pulled it back and reverse swept Heretics to move into the grand final.
In the final fixture, Vancouver Surge looked scattered, and OpTic Gaming capitalized on that. It was such a cakewalk that Shotzzy said in a post-match interview, ‘It feels like we’re cheating sometimes.’
Did you manage to catch any gameplay from the Esports World Cup’s Call of Duty: Black Ops category? Let me know on the Insider Gaming forum.
For more Insider Gaming esports, check out the news that Faker has signed with T1 until 2029
Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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