Major talking points going into the biggest event of the season.

Call of Duty World Championships are just around the corner. The hype behind the event is reaching its peak. Reddit and Twitter is abuzz with prediction threads and opinionated views on every imaginable subject. So here we take a step back and focus on some of the biggest story lines going into next weekend.

Will OpTic’s ring drought end?

With the excellent victory in the Season 2 playoffs, the current OpTic Gaming roster is now officially the most accomplished roster, in terms of events won, ever. The foursome of Scump, Formal, Karma and Crimsix is one of the, if not the best, roster coming into this event. However, victory at the biggest event of the season still eludes them. Both Karma and Crimsix already have their rings but its Formal and Scump, the latter arguably being one of the most talented console esports players ever, that are now overdue for theirs. Their season overall has been lukewarm, considering their usual standards of absolute domination. On multiple occasions they were not considered the best team going into an event. And it is the revival of that hunger for the top spot that has extracted some of the best performances on the main stage from these players. Aches, Clay, EnVyUs; OpTic has a lot of enemies who are looking to take them down, but that is just a consequence of being the best there ever was. It would be wise to be wary of this team; they are hungry, they are ready and they will not take any prisoners.

Clay Vs. Everyone

Alongside Patrick ‘Aches’ Price, James ‘Clayster’ Eubanks is a kind of a player that revels in being in a corner. He thrives in adversity, and more often than not conquers whatever challenge is put forth. Being the subject of the most high profile roster change this season, there was a lot of pressure on him and his eUnited squad to perform. And so far, they have delivered. Coming into this event, eUnited can easily be considered as a strong contender for the title. But it is Clay’s history with both OpTic and FaZe, two of the biggest organisations in the business, that makes this even more enticing. In his career, he has been dropped from both rosters, and recently has had a few issues with OpTic Gaming’s Formal, although they seem to have been resolved. Nonetheless, no bad blood is truly ever wiped clean, and lets just say that he was thrown to the wolves, and now he is on the hunt, leading the pack. If you want to know more about Clayster and his recent exploits, check out my piece on what he brings to the team here.

A Hero or a Zer0

Let us shift our focus now to the Europeans. It has been a great year for the continent. With Splyce’s Stage 1 Playoff victory, they became the first European roster to win an event on NA soil, a massive achievement, one of the catalysts of which was none other than Trei ‘Zer0’ Morris. With a true MVP like performance, Zer0, alongside Bance, Jurd and MadCat, were an unstoppable juggernaut, the victims of which included stacked rosters like FaZe and Luminosity Gaming. They carried their stunning form into MLG Anaheim, where they set up a rematch of the Season 1 Playoff finals with LG. They did get bested by their American rivals and took home second place. It was at Season 2 Group Play where the threads started to unravel a bit. Splyce had a tough group with fellow Europeans Red Reserve and the powerhouse that was eUnited. They somehow stumbled out of their groups on tie breakers and got second seed, a spot many believed should have gotten to Red. And at the playoffs, the wheels completely came off as two swift losses against Luminosity and FaZe saw them going out of the tournament at seventh. The manner of their defeat was somewhat poetic and the blame was being shifted back and forth between players and the game itself but the fact that remains is that this roster has potential. They know what it takes to win at the highest level. So now the success of Europe’s best hope lies heavily, if not fully, on the shoulders of Zer0. If you want to know more about Splyce and Europe’s journey altogether in Call of Duty eSports, check out another one of my pieces here.

Under the Radar

After talking about heavy weights in both NA and EU lets focus our attention to some of the other storylines coming out of the tournament. First, in no particular order, is the match up between Evil Geniuses and Str8 Rippin. Now both of these are long standing members of the esports community, the former being prevalent in almost all of competitive gaming, and the latter being storied members of the Halo community. However, neither of these teams has seen success in Call of Duty in particular. And the rosters couldn’t be more of a headline themselves. EG had dropped Jeremy ‘StuDyy’ Astacio earlier in the year for the much more experienced Chris ‘Parasite’ Duarte, a former Champs winner himself. StuDyy however was picked up by Str8 alongside Ricky, Dashy and Temp. And as fate would have it, both of these teams were drawn in the same group, and will play their first match on Wednesday. This match up will be interesting to watch out for as not only will StuDyy be looking out for sweet revenge on the squad that dropped them but also will serve as the first true test against top tier opposition for Dashy and Temp. The dynamic duo emerged out of the Last Chance Qualifier with record breaking numbers, including a dual 40 bomb on Throwback Hardpoint and Dashy dropping 17 kills on Crusher Search and Destroy. Although Temp is no stranger to the apex of competition when it comes to Call of Duty, as evident by his performance on Denial during the days of Advanced Warfare, he is still yet to prove himself on the big stage in this game, and what a better stage than the World Championship itself.

And last but not the least, is Ghost Gaming. It was baffling to see Week 2 of the Global Pro League play out, as Ghost Gaming after two days of play were 4-0 in a group consisting of Enigma6 and FaZe. But a major collapse on the final day saw them missing out on the top two as the aforementioned NA teams took the spots, E6 taking second place after a myriad of tie breakers. The event served as a precursor to what was to come. Their is talent in this roster of players that were dropped, rejected or not considered good enough. With the heavy support and backing of their organisation, which have provided them with a team house and sufficient resources to help cement their legacy, they are on the cusp of greatness. But all that starts now, at the biggest tournament of the year.

And there you have it, enough fuel to cater to your hype engines as we move ever so close to Wednesday. This year was filled with a lot of ups and downs for many players and organisations. And though the game might have been sub-par to many of the expectations set, no one can deny the fact that it has been a good year to watch competitive Call of Duty. So whether you are a hardcore, flair touting, Reddit surfing connoisseur like myself, or just enjoy the game howsoever, tune in this weekend to see the best in the business battle it out for the biggest prize pool yet. Come next Monday, we will have a new Call of Duty World Champion. But before that, there is a hell of a lot of gaming to be done. So be there, to witness all these storylines come to life.

Featured Image : http://cod.esportswikis.com/wiki/2017_Call_of_Duty_World_League_Championship

Pic 1 : https://www.dexerto.com/news/redemption-road-optic-gamings-path-stage-two-victory/33163

Pic 2 : https://twitter.com/eunited_lil_sav

Pic 3 : http://www.millenium.org/call-of-duty/transferts-cod/actualites/rostermania-en-europe-zer0-chez-splyce-transferts-cod-world-league-cwl-call-of-duty-infinite-warfare-iw-red-reserve-joshh-153848

Pic 4 : https://dotesports.com/call-of-duty/cod-champs-na-lcq-final-eight-teams-16214

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