The stats behind OpTic Chicago’s downfall in CDL respawn modes

OpTic Chicago bowed out of the CDL Stage 2 Major in a lowly 5-6th place, far below their expectations. While there could be a number of factors contributing to this, we take a look at the stats behind their performances and find out what’s going wrong.

There’s no doubt that OpTic Chicago has one of the highest potential ceilings of all teams in the CDL, as well as being by far the most popular.

However, their shakiness in the Major highlighted a number of growing issues with the team, both in terms of their team play and individual performances.

With Search and Destroy being a major hindrance to the team’s chances in each series during Stage 1, Stage 2 saw a quick switch, and OpTic’s respawn seems to be taking a massive hit.

Pointing to a number of the stats behind OpTic’s struggles, Andrew ‘Enigma’ Campion assesses exactly what’s going wrong in the Chicago camp during Reverse Sweep Round 11.

• Read More: CDL 2021 Stage 2 Major: Team of the Week & MVP

While KD is rarely the best signifier of how well a player or team is performing, it can always point to difficulties or inconsistencies. For OpTic, this exposes their SMG duo as the possible reason behind their respawn losses.

While other top teams thrive when their SMGs are frying, OpTic are falling slightly to the wayside in that department. Seth ‘Scump’ Abner is putting up a 0.92 and 1.10 in Hardpoint and Control respectively, while Dylan ‘Envoy’ Hannon is at 0.89 and 0.77.

Envoy’s role is obviously a difficult one. As the entry SMG, he needs to be flying into the hill and picking up the intel for his team, but the loss of slaying prowess shouldn’t be this significant — especially in Control.

While the AR duo of Brandon ‘Dashy’ Otell and Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper are performing exceptionally, they do not have the same SMG pressure to support them as teams like Atlanta FaZe or Dallas Empire have.

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We saw in Toronto Ultra’s Stage 2 Major victory over Atlanta FaZe how important a dominant SMG duo is — but OpTic just aren’t finding that right now, especially in the respawn modes.

If they can bring their Hardpoint and Control results back up to where they were in Stage 1, while still maintaining a solid record in S&D, there’s no doubt OpTic Chicago will be competing for championships. They just need Scump and Envoy to really fulfill their potential.