OpTic Texas Cling to Win, CDL Rookie "Ghosty" on Challengers being Underrated
As we sit in Arlington Esports Arena, the home crowd buzzing, there's a sense of nervousness. OpTic is just one loss away from their hopes of a Major Championship being taken away from them.
Once the Friday matches began, OpTic fans impatiently wait for their team to take the main stage against the London Royal Ravens. As the match went on, the intensity throughout the crowd grew as their team was one map away from being eliminated.
The match is 2-1 in the Royal Raven's favor as we head into round 4 on Mercado Hardpoint. You can feel the crowd holding their breath as the final seconds of hill time approach, and the Royal Ravens creep up to OpTic.
A big cheer roars throughout the arena as OpTic hits 250 and sends the match to a game 5.
Mercado SnD - the final map of the match and what could be the final game OpTic plays on their home turf.
Like a heavyweight boxing match, it was back and forth to the very end. One team takes advantage of the other's mistakes, and the next thing you know, the other team was taking the lead.
With every kill for OpTic, the crowd was going wild. Cuyler "Huke" Garland gets a kill, and you hear a loud rumbling, "HUUUKE!" Brandon "Dashy" Otell with a big snipe - "BRUUUCE!"
The OpTic fans could sleep well on Friday night, knowing their team gets to play at least one more game this weekend after defeating the Royal Ravens 6-4 on the game 5 SnD.
Daniel 'Ghosty' Rothe is playing in his first LAN event after coming over from Decimate, a Challengers team that has seen several of their players called up to the Call of Duty League.
We spoke to Ghosty after the exhilarating win about what it's like playing in Challengers and how tough it can be.
Scrap was on with Scump and Methodz talking about Challengers being a lot tougher. Would you say there's some truth to that?
I don't know if I'd say tougher. You're definitely playing a less regulated form of the game, so there are a lot of things GAd that don't get followed outright. You're also playing people who aren't making the best plays, so you get caught off guard. And also the rigor. You're honestly playing 10 times more than the CDL. Because we are playing singular best of 5, and challengers have already played more best of 5s today than we will play all weekend, like, even if you go all the way. You definitely play a lot more (in Challengers), and it's a little more stressful and more time intensive, but I wouldn't say it's harder straight up. There's more context there.
