Full Sail University held the Call of Duty Championship Qualifiers where the top teams fought for a chance to dig their fingers in the $1 million prize pool at the official Championship in Los Angeles. Optic Gaming, set with their new roster of Nadeshot, Scump, Clayster, and MBoze, pushed to lock their own spot in the competition.
Optic vs. Denial West
They faced Denial West first, overpowering the team with a close Domination win on Strikezone. For the first time since Black Ops 2, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed watching Optic push through the competition as a confident and energetic team. Clayster has been a phenomenal addition to the squad. Game to came down to the wire at round 11 with Scump pulling out a huge win to seal a 2-0 series lead.
Game Three was Blitz on Freight where Denial West furiously battled back to obtain an early lead, however Nadeshot and MBoze immediately answered back to tie the game. It was a back-and-forth fight, forcing the first round into a tie at 7-7. Round two continued to showcase multiple captures from both sides, and the game was shoved into overtime with a tied score of 15-15.
Optic Gaming barely captured the lead in the first round of Overtime with a 6-5 score. The second round began in Optic’s favor despite Denial’s furious retaliation with a 12-10 win, obtaining a 3-0 series win.
Optic vs. Team EnvyUs
Entering the Winners Bracket proved to be a bit more difficult for Optic as they were placed against Team EnvyUs. Domination on Freight proved to be Optic’s game as they achieved an early 1-0 series lead, however, Envy answered back in Search and Destroy on Warhawk to tie the series at 1-1
Blitz on Warhawk unfortunately proved to be Optic’s weakness as Team Envy returned to grab a 2-1 series lead, but the rotation would return to Domination on Strikezone where people believed Optic would make a comeback. Optic managed to obtain an early lead in the first round with impressive map control, but Envy returned to dominate the first round with a 84-68 score. The second round proved to be a bit closer, and Optic tried to retain their focus, but Team EnvyUs was determined to be the dominant team as they returned with a second round victory, obtaining a 3-1 series win to knock Optic Gaming into the Losers Bracket.
.@OpTicGaming drops into the Losers Bracket where they’ll play the winner of @CurseLV vs. @CurseNY to qualify for #CoDChamps. #MLGFullSail
— eSportsNation (@eSportsNation) March 9, 2014