Recap The Court

Jacob Smith

“Fuck the champs curse”, Sam “Octane” Larew proclaimed after taking down Optic 4-2 in the grand final to take their first major since winning back to back to end the last season. Something about Kenny, Octane and the Los Angeles Thieves boys that allows them to kick it into second gear as the season is heading into playoffs and champs, and they showed they were on a different level this weekend in Columbus.

I think if you asked anyone before the major, they’d say OpTic was the clear favorite to win the major. They were 5-0 in the online qualifiers and looking like the best hard point team by far. Their pace was unmatched and the movement of Huke and Shotzzy shined as they worked their way around the map piecing up anyone who stood in front of them.

Well that’s how the major started, but not how it ended. OpTic and Thieves both started in the winners bracket, OpTic getting the Boston Breach in round 1 and Thieves getting the struggling Minnesota Rokkr. Rokkr having benched Dylan “Attach” recently and adding “Fame” from challengers, were just looking for some positive momentum and trying to turn the season around as they fought with the Vegas Legion for the eighth spot in the standings and the final spot at Call of Duty Champs. Their first round at Major 4 wouldn’t turn out positively though as they fell 3-1 to the Thieves and dropped to the losers bracket.

Also in winners bracket, Thieves second round opponent Atlanta Faze took down the Seattle Surge 3-1. Faze, still averaging a top 2 placing at majors for the last 2.5 years, came into the major trying to find their rhythm in hardpoint to go with their Search and Destroy which had remained incredibly consistent. Though with the tiny terrors of Simp and Abezy, you never count this roster out of any game mode against any opponent.

The winners of Major 3, the Toronto Ultra, struggled massively closing out series in the qualifiers and finished with a 1-4 record including three losses in game five, which put them in losers bracket to start the major and made their road to back-to-back titles that much more difficult. When losers bracket started on Friday, they defeated the Boston Breach 3-1, an opponent who gave them trouble during Major 3 taking them to the last map of the series, and defeated them in the Major 4 qualifiers. Ultra would join the Florida Mutineers who got a stunning 3-2 victory over the Vegas Legion and Minnesota Rokkr as the three teams who advanced out of losers round one into Saturday.

Ultra kicked off Saturday, and boy did they make light work of the Florida Mutineers. I mean when you have Hicksy dropping a 1.32 KD as the man who usually has a 0.8-0.95, things are going right, and they sure did. Ultra took the Mercado hard point map 1 250-101, went into the Asilo Search and Destroy and took that 6-1, and finished it off on Hotel control with a 3-1 victory to sweep the Mutineers 3-0 and move on to losers round 3 where they’d await their opponent either the Atlanta Faze or 100 Thieves. Drazah fried with a 1.3 KD and the Thieves took down Faze 3-1 off wins on Asilo SnD, Hotel control and Hydro hard point.

The next two matches on Saturday saw Optic continue their outstanding run with a 3-0 over the New York Subliners, and Faze taking a game five against the Toronto Ultra to knock them out of the tournament at 5th-6th. With three of four spots on championship Sunday set as Faze, Optic and Thieves advanced, the fourth spot came down to the last match between New York and the Minnesota Rokkr. Well Skyz and Hydra did their thing, New York showed flashes of the team they were in Major 1 when they stormed through the league, and they ended Rokkr’s tournament in 3-1 fashion which had been extended after an insane reverse sweep over the Seattle Surge taking map 3, 4 and 5 in the previous round.

It was now championship Sunday, and everything was on the line. The first series was winners final, Thieves going against OpTic, and a baffling decision in the selection of maps as OpTic decided against what was their best hardpoint map and chose Mercado instead of Fortress. This decision, which became even more confusing when the two teams met in the grand final later in the day, led to OpTic getting beat on every rotation during the Mercado game, and getting beat easily which ended in OpTic getting beat 3-1 and sent to losers where they’d await their opponent in New York or Atlanta Faze.

A lot happened in the New York and Atlanta series. Abezy clutched up a 1v3 and 1v4 in the same Hotel Search and Destroy match, New York went up 2-1 going into a Embassy hardpoint, and Faze won map 4 and 5 to take the series 3-2. Now two of the biggest franchises in Esports were meeting in the losers final, but the hype was larger than the level of competition between the two teams. OpTic made quick work of Faze with a 3-0 win and they were on to the grand final to meet Thieves.

Now, we see OpTic on Fortress hardpoint, and why it was so baffling that they decided against it in winners final. They are unbelievable on that map. The freedom that Huke and Shotzzy play with and the control Ghosty has over the execution of the team and the flow of the game has them operating a clear few levels above everyone else, and with Thieves up 2-1 going into the Fortress, and a potential 3-1 deficit in the future for OpTic, the Fortress HP gave them a breath and tied up the series once again.

OpTic and Thieves now went into an Asilo Search and Destroy, and all four for Thieves finished positive in a 6-4 game win, Octane finishing 8 and 5 with nearly 1500 damage. Thieves were now on series point with a 3-2 lead, and Asilo control stood in their way of a championship. This is where Kenny became a demon on the map and Thieves came away with a 3-2 map win. Despite being in situations during their final offense where it looked like OpTic had them trapped and the map was going to go the other way forcing a final map of the series, Kenny and Octane found important opportunities and took full advantage, sealing the win and another championship for this group of talented players.

Thieves now jump to second in the overall standings below Faze and OpTic and above Ultra, and New York, Seattle, Boston and Rokkr finish out the top eight. With one major left before Champs, the positioning of the top four teams will be a constant battle and the fight between Rokkr and the Vegas Legion will be one to watch as Vegas looks to avenge their disappointing major run and get back into the top eight showing who they are. With the next major coming to the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto Ontario in May, teams have roughly a month and five more qualifier matches to get into final form before the biggest stretch of the year, and things will only get more exciting.