For the second consecutive year, the Seattle Surge have ended OpTic Texas’ season at the Call of Duty League Playoffs with a 3-2 win today in the second round of the elimination bracket.
The series started with Mercado Las Almas playing host for the Hardpoint, and OpTic wasted no time shaking off yesterday’s loss to the New York Subliners. The map was a back-and-forth affair for the first set of rotations, with it being tied at 113 in the middle of the last Hardpoint of rotations. From that moment on, though, both the scoreboard and kill feed were lighting up OpTic green.
Texas put the pedal to the floor for the rest of the map and notched the first win of the series in a 250-163 victory. Both Shotzzy and Dashy were magnificent for the side of Texas, with the duo combining for 51 kills and K/Ds greater than 1.6.
Related: Results for 2023 Call of Duty League Championship
As well as OpTic played in the first map, they struggled in the second map. On Al Bagra Fortress Search and Destroy, OpTic took the first round behind three kills from Ghosty. But after that, it was all Surge. Seattle took six of the next seven rounds to win the map and even the series at one map apiece. Accuracy led the way with 10 kills, while Sib and Pred each chipped in with seven.
Heading to a pivotal map three on Breenbergh Hotel Control, OpTic once again looked great. They took the first two rounds of play to earn a commanding 2-0 lead in the map. Seattle did manage to win the third round with a defensive stand, but Texas proved to be too strong. Seattle held a healthy life advantage while facing a 2-1 deficit, but the Surge couldn’t win the trade battles they needed as OpTic held on for the round and a 3-1 victory in the map.
With the series shifting gears for the second Hardpoint, Al Bagra Fortress played host to the fourth map of the match as OpTic looked to close out the series and head into the next round of the elimination bracket. Fortress has been one of the team’s best maps in 2023, but Seattle flipped that narrative on its head. Sib and Pred were all over the map and they dropped 55 combined kills. But it was Mack who slammed the door on the Green Wall’s chances, picking up massive kill after kill at pivotal moments throughout the map. He ended with 32 kills to lead the lobby and sported a 1.78 K/D in the map to help his team push it to a decisive game five.
In a win-or-go-home scenario, it was once again Seattle coming up huge in the SnD. Seattle picked up the first two rounds of Mercado Las Almas Search and Destroy before OpTic came back with two of their own. But the Surge seemed to counter OpTic at every turn, rattling off three straight rounds to put it to match point. Sib found himself in a tough one-vs-three situation in the eighth round but picked up a kill onto Huke immediately to bring it to a one-vs-two. Once he ripped Dashy off a heady, it was down to a one-vs-one against Ghosty.
But it was Sib who managed to win the gunfight, giving Surge the round and series to advance to the next round of the elimination bracket. They will play the winner of the Atlanta FaZe vs. Boston Breach matchup for a spot in the elimination bracket finals and a top-four finish. A year after placing third at CoD Champs, Seattle have an opportunity to improve upon that if they can win two more matches.
For OpTic, it’s back to the drawing board after a season that saw numerous roster changes, including a retirement from one of the greatest competitive CoD players of all time in Scump. It remains to be seen what players will remain on the roster, but after a year where they won no championships, it would be shocking to see them run it back with the same four players.
There have been numerous rumors surrounding Seattle’s superstar, Pred, and a potential move to OpTic in the offseason. The team made an attempt to buyout the second-year player from Seattle earlier this year with negotiations falling through before the team signed Huke to its roster.
