OpTic Texas has found success in the Call of Duty League for the first real time this season. At Major 4 in Paris, France, the team lifted the trophy on the grandest stage in COD esports history after beating LA Thieves in the ultimate showdown. This marks OpTic’s first chip this season, which comes as the reigning world champion side approaches COD Champs in Las Vegas.
This historic win comes as the Call of Duty League celebrates pulling in the largest LAN crowd ever, with tens of thousands of fans descending upon Paris to watch this revenge story. For a while, it looked like the ending of the last Major would repeat itself, with LA Thieves beating OpTic in the grand final.
Not only did OpTic win the lion’s share of the $365,000 prize, but the team also put an end to LAT’s monumental win streak.
OpTic Texas Wins The Last Major of the Season
OpTic Texas has had a relatively rough year, topping the CDL standings but missing out on any trophies this season. That was a notion laid to rest this weekend, with the team stepping up to the plate and showing resilience to take down LAT, a team on a sixteen-match win streak going into the grand final.
The run OpTic Texas had in Paris saw them push down Boston Breach and G2 Minnesota before falling against LAT in an upper bracket sweep. From the lower run, the team became big-time villains after eliminating the hometown heroes, Paris Gentle Mates, to make it back into the grand final against LA Thieves.
That ultimate series proved to be a redemption story for OpTic Texas. Mere weeks ago, the team fell at the final post against LAT at Major 3, giving rise to the Thieves’ immense turnaround that led to a series win record being broken.
OpTic Texas came out of the gate strong, putting LAT in the 100-point club in the opening Hardpoint on Den. The Thieves quickly recovered and punished OpTic Texas with back-to-back map wins in both SnD (Sake) and Overload (Scar). The Overload was particularly nasty, with LAT turning it around in the second half and pushing to a 7-3 scoreline.
The next round of Hardpoint was almost too close to call, with LAT and OpTic pushing neck and neck until the latter team went the extra mile to hit a 250-243 scoreline to secure another point in the series. Scrap went hard in an attempt to stay afloat, producing a whopping 41 kills against OpTic.
That return didn’t last too long, though, as LAT pushed for another Search win in the next round. OpTic proved the respawn game was where it was going to shine in this series, and the second Overload on Gridlock went firmly in the Green Wall’s favor.
Then, it all came down to the final map, a round of Search on Gridlock. This was exactly how things ended at Major 3, but it was LAT that walked away with the prize after dominating OpTic in that final round.
This time, OpTic Texas took the trophy, leaving LAT flailing. This puts OpTic in a great place ahead of COD Champs, that’s for sure.
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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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