OpTic Gaming, Rise Nation Eliminated From 2018 CWL Championship
In an upset, OpTic Gaming fell to Evil Geniuses in the group stage on Thursday and were sent home from the 2018 Call of Duty World League Championship.
The tournament got off to a good start for Seth “Scump” Abner, Ian “Crimsix” Porter, Sam “Octane” Larew, and Anthony “Methodz” Zinni, who first took down Elevate 3-1 Wednesday and then swept Supremacy in their first match Thursday.
But the tides changed in OpTic’s second series on Friday, when the team met Evil Geniuses’ Patrick “ACHES” Price. His team needed a big win over OpTic if they wanted to keep their CoD Champs hopes alive.
Evil Geniuses came out strong, taking Gibraltar Hardpoint 250-205. That was followed by a 6-3 win on Ardennes Forest Search and Destroy. Then, Evil Geniuses got the quick sweep after a strong second half on Ardennes Forest Capture the Flag.
The crippling loss eliminated OpTic from this year’s $1.5 million tournament. It’s been a rough WWII season for OpTic fans, especially after the team won CoD Champs last year.
This isn’t the only upset we’ve seen so far in the tournament.
On Friday, Rise Nation was sent home from the CWL Championship after suffering losses to Team Kaliber and Luminosity.
.@Luminosity ELIMINATE @TheRiseNation!!!
In a reverse sweep, LG have knocked out the big favorites from Champs!#CWLPS4 | #CWLChamps pic.twitter.com/78VFAhnWET
— Call of Duty esports (@CODWorldLeague) August 18, 2018
The CWL Anaheim Open champions managed to finish at the top of PoolB and came into bracket play set to face Team Kaliber, the team they lost to in the CWL Pro League’s Stage Two grand finals.
After losing once again to Team Kaliber, Rise was sent to the losers bracket. There, they were set against Luminosity, who lost to Elevate in the opening round of the championship bracket. Luminosity’s star-studded squad proved to be too much for Rise, despite a strong start.
It looked like Rise had Luminosity backed into a corner after taking the first two maps, but Luminosity evened up the series after winning both the Capture the Flag game and the second Hardpoint map. Luminosity also emerged victorious in Valkyrie Search and Destroy, 6-3.
The loss sends Rise home and hands them their worst placing of the year. Until now, Rise hadn’t finished outside of the top two of any event with their current roster. Friday they finished top 16.
While teams like OpTic Gaming, Rise Nation, and compLexity have been eliminated from the biggest tournament of the year, Lightning Pandas, Evil Geniuses, eUnited, Team Envy, Ghost Gaming, UNILAD, Elevate, and Team Kaliber are moving to the quarterfinals.
Saturday, UNILAD will be seeking vengeance for their Stage Two playoffs loss against eUnited and Lightning Pandas will try to keep their undefeated streak going with a win over Evil Geniuses.