OpTic Texas win CDL Major 1 in front of home crowd

OpTic Texas have been crowned champions at the Call of Duty League Major 1 LAN event, held at the Esports Arena Arlington. They managed to defeat Atlanta FaZe 5 - 2 on home soil in a series full of excitement.

Major 1 had been full of ups and downs for the Greenwall. The Texas team went through a bit of a rough patch as they lost their opening two matches in the online qualifier matches for Major 1. However after they managed to bounce back with three very convincing wins, OpTic seemed in prime condition to make a run at the first LAN event of the CDL season.

OpTic Texas started off Major 1 with a dominant 3 - 0 win against Seattle Surge in the Winners Bracket. They then squared off against the Atlanta Faze in which they managed to pull off an incredible reverse-sweep to beat the reigning CDL Champs 3 - 2. A match which really got the crowd off of their feet.

OpTic then went up against the London Royal Ravens to start off Championship Sunday at Major 1. This was a match full of intrigue as the Ravens had previously beaten OpTic in the online qualifiers. But despite losing the opening hardpoint, OpTic once again showed why they are a team to be feared as they took the next three maps with relative ease to win that match 3 - 1 and book their place in the Major 1 Grand Final. A game which set up a rematch against Atlanta FaZe.

Coming into this match, Atlanta FaZe were determined to get their revenge against OpTic Texas, after seeing off both Toronto Ultra and London Royal Ravens in the Lower Bracket. But OpTic immediately rose to the occasion in this best-of-nine, as they took the Gavutu Hardpoint 250 - 130 in Map 1.

FaZe managed to bounce back with hard-fought win in the Desert Siege Search & Destroy for Map 2, before falling to an incredible performance by OpTic earned them a 3 -2 lead in the Gavutu Control. A game which saw OpTic pull off an insane defensive hold, only to be forced to replay the final round due to Arcitys' PC having some issues. OpTic came out victorious on Map 3 nevertheless to pull ahead in the match 2 - 1.

The match headed to Tuscan for the next three maps in the series, where OpTic took the Map 4 Hardpoint 250 - 212 large in part to a monsterous performance by iLLey; extending their lead in the series to 3 - 1. But once again FaZe answered back with a solid performance in Search & Destroy as they took Tuscan 6 - 3 to close the gap on their rivals.

FaZe continued to pill the pressure on OpTic in the Tuscan Control as they took an impressive 2 - 1 lead on the map. But again, OpTic managed to string together an impressive performance, off the back of some insane plays by Scump and Shotzzy to eventually take the map 3 - 2 putting themselves on Championship point with three maps to go.

The match then headed to Berlin Search & Destroy, a map which should have boded well for FaZe as OpTic had struggled on it across all of Major 1. Adding on to that the fact that FaZe's only map wins in this series thus far were in Search & Destroy.

But that didn't seem to bother the Greenwall whatsoever. And, following a solid performance across the board, it was OpTic Texas that came out on top as they took the map 6 - 3 and the series 5 - 2 to claim the Greenwall's first LAN title in three years. Sending both the players, and an ecstatic home crowd into an celebratory uproar at the Esports Arena Arlington.

Their were a lot of standout performances from players at Major 1. However, it was OpTic's Brandon "Dashy" Otell that was leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else at this event, as he was named the MVP for Major 1.

The Canadian had put on a clinic all weekend long as he finished the event with a combined K/D of 1.31. He was particularly devastating in Search & Destroy where he earned a staggering 1.53 K/D. And when his team needed him the most, it was Dashy, that was there to put the Greenwall on his shoulders.

OpTic Texas will no doubt be the team to watch as they head into the qualifiers for Major 2 which will be starting on March 11. The next LAN tournament of the season will take place in Minnesota on March 31.

Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest Call of Duty news and updates.