Call of Duty League: The Roster Drama Surrounding OpTic
With Seth "Scump" Abner's final year with the Call of Duty League, the new year on the new game of Modern Warfare 2 started out, well, embarrassing, to say the least. They were eliminated from group play after losing to the Toronto Ultra and Florida Mutineers, which meant change was imminent.
On January 8, OpTic announced they were signing Cuyler "Huke" Garland after recently being let go by the Los Angeles Guerrillas, which was mutually agreed upon. Despite Huke's struggles early in Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, he will replace Brandon "Dashy" Otell as OpTic looks to turn things around and bring Scump home a title in his final year.
What Could Have Been
Huke wasn't the first option for OpTic. Anthony "Shotzzy" Cuevas-Castro said on his Twitch channel that Ray "contacted everyone and their mom." He also went on to say that, from what he knows, they contacted Amer "Pred" Zulbeari, which reportedly would have been the biggest deal in CDL history and someone Shotzzy really wanted, as well as Alec "Arcitys" Sanderson. Still, Arcitys has been finding himself in a blender during his first year with LAG.
The thought of Scump, Shotzzy, Illey, and Pred is scary for the rest of the Call of Duty League. That trio had the potential to run MW2 and could almost guarantee Scump a final year CDL Championship.
Is OpTic Headed for Success?
As we know, with the new Call of Duty game, there is no guaranteed success, and anything can happen. But what we do know is that from the latest scrimmages with Huke, Shotzzy said they were flying on the map and keeping their pacing much tighter. Huke reportedly jumped at the chance to join OpTic, and from Shotzzy's stream, he's evidently thrilled to have Huke on the team.
With Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 still a brand new game and something each team in the Call of Duty League will have to adjust to each Major, OpTic is doing what it can to improve and hit its stride before it's too late. The Major II qualifiers start Friday, January 13, so there is no time to waste to gain chemistry with their new teammate. This will give us lots to talk about throughout the qualifiers and into bracket play.
