Scump shares hilarious story about FormaL trash-talking him when they first met

Theo Salaun
scump formal trash talk story

From OpTic Gaming to the Chicago Huntsmen and, now, OpTic Chicago, Scump and FormaL’s odyssey as the “T2P” duo is legendary. But it didn’t start off so beautifully, as told in the tale of their first meeting.

Seth ‘Scump’ Abner and Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper are as renowned a duo in Call of Duty history as can be. Teamed on a refreshed OpTic squad in the Call of Duty League, the two took some time to reminisce during an episode of the newly returned OpTic Podcast.

The subject of that reminiscing? Time 2 Pound’s origin story. Apparently, Scump’s OpTic were set to play FormaL’s Team Kaliber at Ghosts Champs in 2014. The two had never met before, but knew who each other were — and FormaL thought that might give him a chance to get into “The King’s” head a little.

Backstage before their matchup, FormaL sought out Scump to deliver some trash talk. In his first CoD after switching from the Halo scene, he thought he might get an edge by getting in Scumpii’s head. As the story goes, it didn’t end as he hoped, but the rest is history.

As Scump explains, his first interaction with Formy was behind the Octagon at Ghosts Champs: “Matt came up to me at Ghosts Champs — I had no idea who he was. Like, I knew who he was, but I didn’t know him at all. He comes up to me and he’s like ‘it’s your chance to finally play me on LAN.’”

Then, FormaL elaborates on the diabolical plans behind his introduction: “I was trying to get into Seth’s head or something … ‘I heard you’re pretty good, but you get to play me now.’”

As the two crack up and explain, TK were immediately swept by OpTic in around 20 minutes after that attempted trash talk and FormaL learned his lesson: “I was just packing my s**t up all pissed, like ‘this is so lame.’”

Scump & FormaL
Scump and FormaL go way back.

Although Scump’s response to FormaL’s trash-talk effort was a simple “what an idiot,” it’s as fitting as possible an origin story for a now-notorious duo.

The podcast also dabbles in how that was just part of FormaL’s efforts to make a name for himself in CoD, as he switched teams relentlessly and talked his talk.

Eventually, as we all know, the pair ended up united on OpTic Gaming. Now, as the team pushes forward into the CDL 2021 season’s Stage 2, their brief reminiscing gives us a nice look into FormaL’s mindset: “Maybe I was super loyal, but I didn’t think anyone deserved my loyalty until I got on OpTic.”

About The Author

Théo is a former writer at Dexerto based in New York and built on competition. Formerly an editor for Bleacher Report and philosophy student at McGill, he fell in love with Overwatch and Call of Duty — leading him to focus on esports for Dex.