OpTic Chicago explain why CDL loss to Atlanta FaZe was a good thing

Jacob Hale
OpTic Chicago's Formal and Atlanta FaZe's Abezy after CDL Opening Weekend

OpTic Chicago and Atlanta FaZe are two of the best teams in the Call of Duty League, but it did come as a slight surprise when Atlanta won their matchup on the CDL’s opening weekend of 2021.

For most fans, while Atlanta would arguably be a top three team, the consensus seemed to be that Dallas Empire and OpTic Chicago were a clear top two, with FaZe just behind them.

What actually went down during the opening weekend reflected something slightly different, Minnesota ROKKR taking out Dallas and FaZe securing the 3-2 win over OpTic, including a 12-1 total Search and Destroy round count over the Greenwall.

While you might expect the Chicagoans to be reeling over their loss against one of their key opponents, the team actually seems to think it was a good thing for them.

CDL 2021 team of the week opening weekend
The loss helped Atlanta FaZe’s Abezy secure himself a spot in our Opening Weekend Team of the Week.

Appearing on the OpTic podcast, Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper and Brandon ‘Dashy’ Otell got onto the topic of their opening matches and their 1-1 record.

With team owner Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez asking what actually happened to bring about the loss, the duo weren’t too upset.

“To take away anything from that match, it was just S&D’s, obviously,” Dashy said, before adding that their Search is actually pretty good but those maps are a problem for them. He also said that they were pretty happy with how the match went, all things considered.

FormaL reiterated Dashy’s point and went one further. “It’s honestly better that we didn’t just 3-1 them. If we won 3-1, we would’ve looked at that Miami (Search & Destroy) like it was a fluke. But, because we lost both Searches so bad, it made us take a step back and realize we’ve got to improve on those maps.”

The justification definitely makes sense, and leaves the squad plenty of time to fix up their issues; it’s much better this happens now than later down the line when it might be too late.

From here on out, it will become clear how much this loss really was a good thing for the OpTic team. If we see stark improvements going forward then it worked out — if not, then it could get ugly as teams find ways to take more maps off of them.


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About The Author

Jacob is Dexerto’s UK Editor and Call of Duty esports specialist. With a BA (Hons) in English Literature and Creative Writing, he previously worked as an Editor at Ginx TV. Jacob was nominated for Journalist of the Year at the 2023 Esports Awards. Contact: jacob.hale@dexerto.com.