In OpTic Texas’ opening match of their home event, Shotzzy and crew suffered a sweep at the hands of the Boston Breach today at the 2023 Call of Duty League’s third Major.
After OpTic looked dominant in their last qualifying match last week, a 3-1 victory over the Atlanta FaZe, they took a big step back in their 3-0 loss to Boston. OpTic will now need to make a run in the losers bracket if they want to make it to Sunday and improve upon their top-four finish at last month’s Major.
Related: Results for 2023 Call of Duty League Major 3
While it was a 3-0 win for the side of Boston, all three maps were decided in the last minute. The series kicked off with a back-and-forth Embassy Hardpoint that set the tone for the rest of the series. OpTic jumped out to an early lead, but both teams exchanged leads throughout the map. With Boston leading late in the map, both teams were on the rotation to the map’s second Hardpoint with a chance to win with a solid hold.
Boston managed to win the trades at the hill, giving them the time needed to clinch the map and take a 1-0 lead with their 250-212 victory. Boston’s heralded rookie, Beans, was massive in this map, putting up 29 kills to just 22 deaths. His performance in this map, and series overall, was one of the more impressive outings this season.
The series turned to Search and Destroy, with El Asilo playing host for the series’ second map. The map, just like the Hardpoint before it, went down to the wire. With the map tied at 5-5, a decisive round 11 would be the deciding factor. Boston found themselves with a two-vs-one advantage late in the round, and it was Beans who cleaned up the final kill to give the Breach a commanding 2-0 lead.
It was another massive performance from Beans in map two. This time, the star rookie tied the SnD kill record in Modern Warfare 2 with 17 kills to only five deaths. With the 2-0 lead, Boston headed to the series’ next map, Al Bagra Fortress Control, hoping to shut OpTic down and advance to Saturday. Fortress is a map, especially on Control, where teams can get spawn trapped—and that’s exactly what happened to OpTic.
When Boston was on defense, it was slim pickings for the Green Wall. The Breach had set up perfectly, keeping Texas in the back of their spawn, allowing Boston to pick OpTic apart. The map went to a round five, but it was essentially pre-determined when Boston was awarded the defensive side. Boston had Texas in the spawn trap, and there was no doubt that the Breach would win the map and series.
Boston will play the Toronto Ultra on Saturday, March 11 at 3:30pm CT with a spot in the CDL Major Three winners bracket finals up for grabs. Meanwhile, OpTic will look to avoid elimination in a matchup with the London Royal Ravens on Friday, March 10 at 3:30pm CT.
