OpTic Gaming stumble on the first day of CWL Fort Worth

Despite coming into CWL Fort Worth as one of the tournament favorites, OpTic Gaming struggled on the opening day of the event in Pool D.

And while OpTic had trouble navigating through pool play, Splyce and Gen.G finished with flawless 3-0 records. Those wins will put both of them in a good position as the tournament shifts to a bracket format for the rest of the weekend.

Related: Pool play results for CWL Fort Worth 2019

Many other teams didn’t do nearly as well as those squads, with Midnight Esports and Evil Geniuses notably finishing the day without any wins.

Here are the pool play standings for 2019 CWL Fort Worth (each team’s record is followed by their map count in parentheses).

Pool A

Gen.G expectedly rolled through the competition in Pool A. Although they made a roster change about a week before the event, the teamwork from this squad is better than pretty much every other team in the world.

The biggest surprise in this group was Team Heretics, though. The Spaniards looked inconsistent and failed to do much of anything, finishing with zero wins.

1) Gen.G: 3-0 (9-3)
2) Denial Esports: 2-1 (6-6)
3) UYU: 1-2 (6-6)
4) Team Heretics: 0-3 (3-9)

Pool B

Arguably the most-contested group, Pool B featured three teams with 2-1 records. Red Reserve, Enigma6, and 100 Thieves had strong showings in their group, but Red and E6 captured the first and second spots, respectively. 100 Thieves, who lost to Red Reserve in four games, fell to third due to the three-way tiebreaker.

1) Red Reserve: 2-1 (8-4)
2) Enigma6: 2-1 (8-7)
3) 100 Thieves: 2-1 (7-5)
4) Evil Geniuses: 0-3 (2-9)

Pool C

Excelerate and Midnight entered this event with completely different rosters from what they fielded at the CWL Las Vegas Open, and it didn’t work out very well for either.

Both teams lost to Splyce and Luminosity, entering their match against each other without a single combined win. Fortunately for Excelerate, they were able to avoid going winless in pool play by sweeping Midnight.

In the matchup between the two top teams, Splyce took out Luminosity in four games to secure the No. 1 spot in the group.

1) Splyce: 3-0 (9-4)
2) Luminosity: 2-1 (7-5)
3) Excelerate Gaming: 1-2 (6-6)
4) Midnight Esports: 0-3 (2-9)

Pool D

Going up against European team Reciprocity in their first match of the tournament, OpTic were shockingly defeated in five games. OpTic were handed their second consecutive loss in pool play by Team Envy, who fought off a late Hacienda Hardpoint comeback to close out the series.

OpTic had their last match of pool play against eUnited, who they faced in the grand finals of the CWL Las Vegas Open in December. This matchup turned out the same way that one did as OpTic picked up their first win of the group. But with Reciprocity’s win over Envy to end the night, OpTic weren’t able to pick up the second spot in their group.

1) Team Reciprocity: 2-1 (8-7)
2) Team Envy: 2-1 (8-4)
3) OpTic Gaming: 1-2 (6-6)
4) eUnited: 1-2 (3-8)

CWL Fort Worth matches resume tomorrow at 2pm CT, when multiple rounds of the championship bracket will be played. 100 Thieves vs. eUnited will be just one of many intriguing matchups as the tournament continues this weekend.