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.
// @Shotzzy talks about their first day of scrims w/ Huke pic.twitter.com/srdYA5LeMq
— Chris (@ChrisIsHidden) January 9, 2023
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.
Shotzzy and Octane React to Huke 💩 on Dashy! pic.twitter.com/sA8nnVbS6o
— SpawnUp⬆️(CDL Clips) (@SpawnUpgg) January 10, 2023
Zack is the Publishing Manager for Esports Illustrated. He grew up playing videos as a kid, mainly sports games and the Call of Duty series. Before his work at Esports Illustrated, Zack published content for the NFL Draft for various sites since 2017, including partner sites on FanNation and has appeared on various shows across the country and videos across the FanNation group. Outside of work, Zack enjoys spending time with his wife and three children. He loves playing football and video games with his son, taking his two daughters to get their favorite treats, and binge-watching shows with his wife. Zack began covering Esports at the end of 2022, mainly covering the Call of Duty League.