Scump says OpTic have ‘solved’ Major shortcomings: “We know what we did wrong”

Following their Top Four finish in the first Call of Duty League Major of 2021, OpTic Chicago’s Seth ‘Scump’ Abner reflected on what went wrong for the superstar lineup, as well as what they’re doing to rebound in Stage 2.

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Kicking off the Stage 1 Major against the New York Subliners, OpTic started with a bang. The Green Wall came out in full force as the popular roster blitzed through NYSL 3-0 to start their run. However, it was ultimately NYSL who would knock them out of the event, also with a 3-0 map count just days later.

Coming straight out of Super Week and right into the Major, “it was a pretty exhausting two weeks for [OpTic],” Scump admitted in a lengthy March 11 vlog. Though there were a few key mistakes that contributed to their fourth-place finish, he revealed.

Reflecting on every map, along with issues from outside the game itself, it wasn’t an ideal run by any stretch, according to Scump’s recount.

With momentum on their side after a sweep over New York, the following series against Dallas “stung” for the team. While it was a narrow five-map affair, Scump firmly believes they “could have won 3-1” with some slight adjustments. “We f***ed up a lot of things,” he said.

Despite soon rebounding against the LA Thieves in the lower bracket, the immediate rematch against NYSL brought a swift end to their run. It was the brief interval between these matchups that had Scump “pissed off.”

“We f***ed up our vetoes, which ended up shooting us in the foot,” he explained. While the specific picks and bans weren’t revealed for obvious reasons, the map set was against OpTic from the jump, according to Scump.

For the first Search and Destroy of the series, the teams loaded into Garrison. Given it was OpTic’s “first rep,” and NYSL’s “first rep,” they “didn’t have any VOD to watch” in order to prepare. 

There were no specific strategies ready to go for New York and their general approach appeared to go out the window as well. “It felt like we weren’t doing what we practiced on the map,” Scump said.

Down 0-2 in the blink of an eye and their backs were against the wall. Just one map away from elimination, however, and they were still holding out for a potential reverse sweep. 

• Read More: Is drama good for the CDL? Scump and FormaL weigh in

“We were very confident on [Checkmate Control] going into it and then the match comes and we kind of just don’t do what we’ve practiced. We just played the map scared it felt like. They ended up taking advantage of that and just absolutely blowing us out of the water.”

It was a “hard” loss, as Scump described it. “[NYSL] played good, they had a great series but I don’t feel like we played up to par. Can’t take anything away from New York though, they played great.”

Looking ahead to Stage 2, it’s all a matter of “keeping [their] heads down” in pursuit of winning the next Major. “We know what we did wrong.”

• Read More: CDL 2021 Stage 1 Major: Team of the Week & MVP

With a current break in the action, OpTic will be looking to refine their game and rebound in a big way. Stage 2 is all set to kick off on March 18 with the next Major starting on April 5. Keep on top of the action with our full schedule for 2021.