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Dino Medalla
by Dino Medalla
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OpTic Gaming has reclaimed their throne as the best Call of Duty team following CWL Las Vegas. Call of Duty is alive and well after four days of high entertainment and close competition.

Check out the first part of the CWL Las Vegas story if you missed it.

The excitement of the first major tournament of the Black Ops 4 season reached its peak on championship Sunday. With only a few teams left standing, the boys on OpTic Gaming fought through heavy competition in a dominating fashion to reclaim their thrones as the kings of Call of Duty.

The Big Three

The main story lies with the top three teams: OpTic Gaming, eUnited, and Splyce. In a three-way slugfest, these three have established themselves as the top three in Call of Duty as of now. Stylistically and in terms of firepower, the three match up with each other very well. Many of the best matches have come from these teams and are filled with heart-stopping clutch moments.

Credit: CWL

As expected, OpTic Gaming would burn through their side of the bracket. They handled Luminosity Gaming with ease in one of the most anticipated grudge matches. While at points Luminosity Gaming showed they had the firepower to contend against OpTic Gaming, the Green Wall’s superior tactics and coordination won them the series. To make it all the way to the grand finals, OpTic Gaming would pull off miraculous comebacks in their Hardpoints against both eUnited and Splyce.

Credit: CWL

It has to be said though, eUnited and Splyce were on another level compared with other teams. Splyce’s combination of Jordan “Jurd” Crowley and Donovan “Temp” Laroda is deadly. Alongside the rest of the team, Splyce look like they’ll be an annoyingly difficult team to fight. Additionally, eUnited have become a consistently strong team with star power in Alec “Arcitys” Sanderson and Tyler “aBeZy” Pharris. These two teams would cruise through their matches until meeting OpTic Gaming. Finally, in the losers bracket, eUnited would come out on top over Splyce to make it into grand finals.

OpTic Gaming and eUnited’s last meeting in a grand final was in the 2017 Infinite Warfare season. OpTic Gaming’s last event win was a year ago with CWL Championships 2017. The last time eUnited captain James “Clayster” Eubanks had won an event was in the 2015 Advanced Warfare season. A tremendous amount of glory was on the line for both teams.

A miraculous comeback

The first map, Seaside Hardpoint, was a mirror of their previous matchup. The lead was taken early by eUnited, and the deficit grew fast. Clayster and his boys were always in control of the point due to early rotations and their effectiveness at holding points. Young gun aBeZy was key in winning gunfights on the hill and establishing the pace. With a 236 – 120 lead, eUnited were poised to take the first map in a dominating fashion. However, as the game progressed, OpTic Gaming would start to win gunfights and hold time in the hill.

Now, at a scoreline of 244 – 213 in favor of eUnited, the final Hardpoint would dictate the course of the series. OpTic Gaming would successfully cut off eUnited from rotating to hold spawns. From there, OpTic Gaming would set up on the final hill and perfectly hold eUnited from even touching the hill. Doing what they have done multiple times throughout the weekend, Scump and the boys pulled another adrenaline-pumping comeback.

Ghillies in the mist

The Search and Destroy rested on the shoulders of sniper play from Clayster and Dashy. Like two heavyweights coming against each other, the outcome of the game depended on who was quicker with the scope.

Clayster had important first picks with his sniper and aBeZy had clutch two pieces to edge the advantage into eUnited’s favor. Despite that, OpTic Gaming’s coordination and teamwork always seemed to win the rounds. OpTic Gaming’s setups seemed unbreakable and they played kill trades perfectly. As well, Dashy warmed up, catching some inhuman sniper picks to give OpTic Gaming the advantage. This put them in a comfortable lead of 4-1.

Clayster and his team then switched it up and played more aggressively, catching OpTic Gaming off guard. Off the back of kills from Prestinni and aBeZy, eUnited put two more rounds on the board. The momentum switched in the 8th round, with Karma investing his Grav Spikes to give his team the number advantage. From there, OpTic Gaming took the game easily with Dashy showing off his Tempest skills to ensure the second game.

It’s all over

The final map returned to Arsenal for Control. Despite the momentum OpTic Gaming had already built, eUnited came out swinging, taking the first round in a dominant fashion off of aggressive spawn trapping. OpTic Gaming retaliated in the next two rounds by matching eUnited’s pace and playing for fast objective captures.

OpTic Gaming, now with a scoreline of 2-1, was on match point and the verge of claiming a championship. Clayster and his boys were not out of the fight yet though. Despite being at a numerical disadvantage for most of the fourth round, they managed to win out in the last team fight, allowing them to capture both points.

In what had become a recurring theme this event, OpTic Gaming turned on the switch in the late game. Amazingly, in the final round, they started winning all their gunfights, gaining the advantage early. EUnited would not be able to catch up to the Green Wall’s pace. In the final moments of the series, Dashy once again pulled out his now trademark Tempest to put the game away.

It’s been a long time

After an entire year of a drought, OpTic Gaming has clawed their way back into their rightful spot on the top. This event was theirs to win, and they did so with superior game sense and monstrous gameplay. From Karma’s clutch flash, to Scump’s Tac-5 2v1 clutch, to Dashy’s mere existence on the map, everyone on OpTic Gaming turned up. OpTic Gaming look stronger than ever, feeling comfortable in controlling the map in respawns and outplaying their opponents in Search and Destroy.

Credit: MLG

As the crowd kept chanting “Bruce” (Dashy’s nickname), he would earn a much-deserved MVP trophy. According to stats and the analysis table, his performance is the best individual performance of a player ever. For the past year, many were doubting the young gun’s talents, chalking it up to online advantage. Even when he played on compLexity Gaming, viewers believed he could not replicate his stellar performances against top teams. Now, he has shut up all the critics with this event. He easily passed the eye test and is a walking clip generator.

The future is bright, not just for OpTic Gaming, but for Call of Duty esports as a whole. Viewership has been the highest it’s been in a long time, with over 200k concurrent online viewers. The venue itself was packed with eager fans, dying from heart attacks due to the exhilarating games. The top four teams have been established, and now fans eagerly wait for the Pro League Play-Ins in January. There, 12 teams out of the top 28 teams out of CWL Las Vegas will qualify for the CWL Pro League. The season has just begun, but already, we have the kings back in action.

Keep up with the Call of Duty action here on Daily Esports. Any news regarding rosters, storylines, or just general esports can be found here.

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