In the beloved show Pokémon, Ash Ketchum wanted to be the very best. No matter how strong he became, winning gym badges and leveling up his Pokemon, his rival Gary Oak always found a way to one-up him. In the competitive Call of Duty scene, Team eLevate have made great strides towards the top, but just can't seem to overcome OpTic Gaming.

In Stage 1 of the NA CWL, OG dominated their competition with 3-0 scores in 11 of their 20 games, finishing in first place with a 20-2 record. eLv showcased their ability to bounce back into their A game, as they were able to slingshot themselves from tenth all the way to fourth place over the course of the stage, ending with a 13-9 record.

They kept that trend going through Stage 2, as OG grabbed hold of first place by week four and refused to let go of their spot atop the standings. eLv, also consistent with their Stage 1 performance, started at the bottom of the pile in twelfth place but made it to fourth place by week eight.

Almost every time these two teams played in the CWL, whether it was during the regular season or the playoffs, OG slammed eLv with scores like 3-1 and 4-0 (the 4-0 loss being in the semifinals of the Stage 1 Playoffs). Despite a few close calls for eLv, OG were always the victor.

OpTic have been the big kids on the block for a long time, joining the competitive scene with MW2 in 2010, and their team has housed some of the biggest names in competitive CoD history, including Matthew "NaDeSHot" Haag, James "Clayster" Eubanks and Joey "MerK" Deluca.

With such heavy hitters on their past and present rosters, it's no surprise that OG have a history of cleaning up at major tournaments, having won Call of Duty XP in 2011 and placing in the top three at the Call of Duty Championship twice. Since forming their current roster in April 2015, they have placed either first or second at every major event except for the UMG South Carolina Champion Tournament and the ESL CWL Challenge Division Tier 2 Event 1 North America.

On the other side of the spectrum are eLevate. Despite forming in 2013, their competitive career consisted of more roster changes than actual events until 2015. They were able to start making a name for themselves throughout the year, taking 5th-8th at the Gfinity Summer Championship, third at the MLG Pro League Season 2 Playoffs, and third at the MLG World Finals 2015.

Though the start of the CWL's first season in January ramped up the rivalry between OpTic and eLevate, major event placements from 2015 show that their competition is anything but new. Most notable are the MLG Pro League Season 2 Playoffs where eLv placed third, two spots behind OG who took first, and the MLG World Finals 2015, which resulted in the exact same placements.

"Our biggest opponent would probably be Optic," eLv support Jared "Nagafen" Harrell told theScore esports. "[They're the only team] we've lost to at major tournaments so far this year."

In October 2015, eLv released their roster and picked up Team Revenge's former roster, who had disbanded in May of that year. This brought a huge amount of excitement for eLevate going into the CWL, as Team Revenge had placed second at the Call of Duty Championship in 2015. The CWL gave OG another opportunity to clean house, but also an opportunity for eLv to prove they have what it takes to claim first place.

Nagafen is known for having an unconventional gaming style and being all over the map when he plays, as he constantly jumps around and bounces off walls. In a recent interview with Call of Duty Blog contributor Dan Noel, Nagafen said "If you’re watching me play, I’m always on a wall, always in the air," also referring to himself as "the greatest S&D player in the world."

Even with his unique style, he always manages to take out the opponent in his sights, the team attributing their Search and Destroy skills as one of their biggest strengths. Despite his S&D skills, he's been dubbed "The Silver Surfer" for never placing first at a major championship.

"Honestly, it's like Murphy’s law when I get to finals," Nagafen said. "Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong."

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But then MLG Anaheim came along in mid-June and managed to shake things up. Despite losing 3-0 to OG in Round Three of the Championship Winner's Bracket, eLv plowed through the Loser's Bracket and made their way to the Grand Final to once again face off against OG. In a stunning turn of events, eLv won the first two maps with a tight 250-246 Hardpoint win and a 6-5 Search and Destroy victory.

What made this so interesting is the fact that this was the first time in CWL history that eLv had beaten OG on two consecutive maps, and their first time beating OG in a HP match.

Unfortunately for eLv, their lead was short lived, as OG came back with the reverse sweep, winning the next three maps and claiming first place at Anaheim. eLv's slayer Tyler "FeLonY" Johnson discussed how it all suddenly went south for the team.

"After a long day and losing to Optic in the winner finals, we had a great win against Rise," he said. "We started off hot for the first two maps against Optic in the grand finals, but after losing the Uplink I feel like we all just started to run out of gas after a long day."

Even though OG won the battle, it doesn't mean they've won the war. FeLonY and Nagafen both agreed that Hardpoint matches were their weak spot as a team, but have also both said that they're currently working on it.

"As far as weaknesses go, it would be our Hardpoint," Nagafen said. "We'll have it fixed soon enough."

If they can rally themselves the way they did at the Grand Final on a regular basis, eLv could stand to give OG a serious run for their money. Despite their strong performance at Anaheim, the next (and last) time they faced off in the Stage 2 regular season on June 23, OG defeated eLv with a 3-0 sweep.

While their performance against OpTic has been inconsistent, eLv have shown through their close call matches that they have the potential to take down their rival. With the CWL Stage Two Playoffs coming up in mid-July, Nagafen hinted that fans may end up being surprised by eLv once again.

"We still have a few things up our sleeves."

Correction: A previous version of this story said that OpTiC placed in the top three of the Call of Duty Championship three separate times. In fact, they have only done so twice. theScore esports regrets the error.

Olivia Da Silva is a news editor at theScore esports. You can usually find her freaking out over someone's dog or telling terrible jokes to anyone who will listen. Feel free to follow her on Twitter.