The rise of Dashy: The walking montage of Call of Duty
It seemed fitting that one of the greatest snipers the Call of Duty world has ever seen would eventually join OpTic – the first ever sniper team created back in 2006. But even before he became OpTic Dashy, Brandon Otell was destined for stardom.
Born in 1999 to Lebanese parents in Canada, Dashy discovered video games at the age of seven on the original Xbox, favoring Halo and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic before he found his way to Call of Duty: World at War.
But it wasn’t until Modern Warfare 2 was released when he started to display a rare talent for sniping. Geared with intervention, his favourite rifle of all time, Dashy made a name for himself in the small and niche community of competitive sniping where he grinded for four years. Despite getting no exposure, he believes that it was worthwhile.
He said: “Do you know what’s crazy? I did that for so long and I don’t regret doing it. It was so much fun. I was making no money, I was not getting any exposure but the joy of doing it and sniping all day and all night was just so fun to me.”
Following the release of Black Ops 2, Dashy did join a team called Obey and played in his first competitive sniping tournament, but he took a break from the game after they let him go.
He recalled: “I ended up getting dropped for that team, I was like whatever and I kind of stopped playing CoD for a little bit.” However, the release of Black Ops 3 changed his life forever.
MLGIn 2015, Dashy was on the verge of quitting Call of Duty in order to focus on school and sports but he reignited his passion for the game after getting his hands on Black Ops 3 and it only got better and better from there.
Two years after he made the decision to pursue a pro career in Call of Duty, the 17-year-old prodigy signed for Str8 Rippin and qualified for his first ever Champs with StuDyy, Ricky and a fresh-faced Temp.
Alongside a young and talented Temp, the duo carried their team all the way through the NA Last Chance Qualifiers where Dashy proved himself to be a dangerous and versatile slayer.
The pair continued to shine at champs that year – making it out of a group that consisted of Fnatic, Tainted Minds and Evil Geniuses. But their luck ran out as they were decimated in the first round of knockouts by FaZe Clan. Some might have looked at this as a failure but it was far from it for Dashy – his performances got him noticed and getting spotted gave him an opportunity to pull off what was about to become one of the most memorable moments of the Call of Duty professional scene at that time.
The game was WW2 and Dashy had just been picked up by Enigma6 for CWL Dallas 2018. They were in the Losers Bracket and they needed to beat Rise Nation for a chance to progress to Round 4. Here, Dashy etched his name into the history books by dropping 20 kills in a Game 5 Search and Destroy – a feat only matched by the legend Crimsix back in 2014 against FaZe. It was the first time the two players were being talked about on the same level – but it certainly wasn’t the last.
Dashy’s rise to stardom also came with a price – while he was well loved by many fans, the charismatic and opinionated teenager also got into a lot of drama.
MLGWhilst playing for Enigma6 and later Complexity, Dashy became teammates on multiple occasions with Censor and Blazt. The trio didn’t enjoy much success together, though, and after the team disbanded, Dashy and Blazt recalled stories of Censor missing practice.
On a stream, the pair claimed that Censor told his team that he was too sick to scrim but then posted a photo of himself on a jet ski two hours later.
And Censor, who was an outspoken YouTube personality, hit back at the pair, accusing them of slandering his name and called them “pathological liars.”
But the back and forth spat didn’t stop there. While Blazt was the more vocal one in the situation, Dashy also expressed his own criticisms.
Responding to a 26-minute video Censor posted to clear his name, Dashy said: “He’s always complaining. Oh, I’m always the victim. I don’t give a f*ck if you’re getting fried, at least show me you give a f*ck, instead of f*cking making videos saying you do. Literally, that’s all he does, he talks about how he wants it, but doesn’t actually put in the work – that’s literally fucking psychotic.”
Although the drama was left fairly open ended, it was clear that Dashy and Blazt had burnt some bridges with their former teammate but this was nothing compared to what transpired between Dashy and one of the biggest legends of the game after he joined OpTic.
Despite making it to his first Champs at just 17 and slowly shaping himself into a top prospect, Dashy didn’t quite become the walking montage that he is today until he was picked up by OpTic. It was Black Ops 4, released in 2018, that truly propelled him into a superstar.
Dashy’s star status propelled under the OpTic banner.OpTic were in for a revamp – they had just survived one of their worst years in the organization’s history. Octane and Methodz were out, while Dashy and TJHaly were in. It was going to take a special player to fill the gap left by Octane – who was considered one of the best in the world – and Dashy did just that.
He went onto top the leaderboard in both Search and Destroy KD as well as overall KD but most notably, he helped OpTic to their first victory in over a year at CWL Vegas. Under the lights of the Hard Rock Hotel, with fans chanting his nickname “Bruce, Bruce, Bruce”, Dashy pulled out the performance of his life in the grand finals against eUnited. Dashy didn’t just lift the trophy with OpTic that night but was also awarded MVP of the tournament and had the highest KD from a winning team. Ever.
Of course, Dashy’s success was also down to the superstar team he now had around him. He was no longer just sniping in his bedroom but playing on stage alongside Scump, Karma and Crimsix – some of the greatest players of all time in professional Call of Duty.
But all good things come to an end and it was no different for this OpTic roster. Competitive Call of Duty underwent the most dramatic shift since the inception of the league when the new franchising system was unveiled. But no one can prepare for how the changes turned teammates into bitter rivals.
The legendary OpTic roster burned bright, but chemistry issues burned it down.Crimsix, who had spent five years at OpTic, dropped a bombshell that he was forced out of the organization. He revealed: “Three people colluded against me towards two of my best friends that I’ve known for over a third of my life. They were given a 3v1 ultimatum to replace me on a team that they wanted to leave/have left in the past. I was essentially forced out by other people other than Seth and Hector.”
Crimsix went on to reveal that his former teammates had conflicts from the inception of the new roster and that they are no longer friends: “The team was split into two sides, with him Karm and Tyler against Dashy, Scump and TJ,” he said. “We hated each other, the two sides couldn’t have been more apart. They thought they were gods and Damon, Tyler and I were garbage. They wouldn’t listen. Even if you were right, they would ignore you. Teammates are supposed to build you up, not to try and tear you down. We had a lot of disagreements that almost always turned into personal shots at each other.”
Dashy, who had become a fan-favourite during Black Ops 4, was also now being accused by Crimsix for being lazy and difficult to work with – to a point where Crimsix described working with this roster as “babysitting.”
It was the first time in Dashy’s career where someone of Crimsix’s stature had come out and publicly criticized his attitude and his worth ethic, and Dashy didn’t stay silent for long.
He responded on stream: “Listen, I’m good with all my teammates. It’s just some of them aren’t good with me because I didn’t want to play with them. If you don’t want to play with someone you get crucified for it – just don’t get sh*t on.”
The roster drama didn’t just end there – although he retained a spot on OpTic’s new line up, Dashy allegedly threatened to bench himself because his request to transfer to the Chicago Huntsmen was denied. Of course, things were resolved before the start of the new Call of Duty 2020 season but when the two sides met during the launch weekend, it was Chicago that came out on top.
The Huntsmen signed two of OpTic’s most legendary players, Scump and FormaL as they destroyed OGLA in a match where Chicago looked more like the old OpTic than OGLA themselves did.
MLGDashy was one of the best players to ever touch Black Ops 4 last year – can we expect him to replicate his success in Modern Warfare and dominate the franchise? Only time will tell.