Rise Demolish OpTic; Where do they go from here?

The brand-new OpTic Gaming roster hit our screens for the first time last week at the CWL Global Pro League. The addition of Octane and Methodz for FormaL and Karma was questioned by many, but the new additions quickly won the hearts of the fanbase through regular content and entertaining streams. The cohesion of the old line-up was eroded over time, but the bubbly nature of the new team’s communication gave confidence that their online dominance would transfer to a LAN environment. These sentiments were reflected in the professional scene, with both Clayster and Priestahh seeing them as the new team to beat. Despite the widespread acclaim, would OpTic be able to overhaul CWL Seattle Champs Rise Nation throughout the first two weeks of action?

The Build-up

Their campaign started out as they meant to continue, dispatching of Unilad before sweeping aside Tainted Minds a day later. Their first true test would come against Luminosity Gaming on Thursday evening, Octane’s former team. OpTic dominated this matchup in humiliating fashion for former OpTic star FormaL, a 3-0 sweep in which LG were outclassed in every map. JKap 's team surprised me by vetoing into a very strong mapset for OpTic, but this remains an impressive win for the new roster. As Rise Nation had just dropped in a game 5 round 11 (G5R11) to eUnited , some fans were quick to claim that OpTic were now the best team in the game, using the logic that OpTic beat LG, who beat eU, who had bettered Rise. These latter two matches were decided in G5R11 however, so many reserved judgement until OpTic took on Rise head-to-head.

After dealing with CompLexity and Mindfreak, OpTic would come up against giant-killers eUnited on Wednesday night. Considering eU were fresh off a G5R11 defeat at the hands of Doug Censor Martin, one would expect a dominant roster to capitalise on their lack of momentum. Nevertheless, OpTic could muster none such performance, losing convincingly in both hardpoints, and only scavenging a single CTF map from the series. I saw many excusing this loss considering Rise were also taken down by Clayster’s side, but OpTic were truly outclassed in this matchup, whereas Rise fell in a more tightly-fought contest. As both teams moved into the final day with a 5-1 record, the big match carried all the more weight with a hypothetically easier CWL Anaheim pool up for grabs for the winner.

The Match-up

The blockbuster battle of the titans proved to be nothing more than a trouncing. Rise Nation came out swinging on Saint Marie hardpoint, opening up an early lead that would only continue to grow. OpTic’s rotations were strong, but they struggled immensely to lock down any setup: the individual skill of the Rise squad swatted aside the Greenwall, who couldn’t get a foothold in the map. Reminiscent of OpTic’s loss to Mindfreak in Stage 1 (FAWK YOU), they failed to break 80 points in a crushing defeat.

The OpTic dynasty line-up lacked resilience throughout their WW2 tenure, crashing out of every major but CWL Birmingham with consecutive series losses. This characteristic cannot be gauged from scrims, and the new roster is clearly suffering similar issues. OpTic seemingly fell apart after their hardpoint loss, and the SnD was more of the same. OpTic could offer no effective strategies or good counter-play to Rise’s superior shooting on their way to a 6-1 defeat. Methodz has ruled the roost on Ardennes Forest this year, but TJHaly’s aggression among other factors resoundingly usurped the king here, as Rise stomped their way to a 3-0 rout.

The new OpTic team failed to even contest this series, dwarfed in all aspects of the game. Rise’s gunskill, rotations, positioning, team-play and communication was a cut above what OpTic could offer. Loony’s line-up convincingly maintained their status as the number one team, TeePee and the rest of OpTic will need to go back to the drawing board if they aim to better Rise next time around. There is a chance for revenge at CWL Anaheim, starting 15th June, where we could see a repeat in Winners’ Round 1 if the teams finish 1st and 2nd in their respective pools. Both OpTic and the neutral fans of thrilling CoD will hope the Greenwall can present a serious challenge if they are to meet again.