OpTic $200,000 tournament inspires Warzone fans to want new competitive format

Competitive Warzone fans got a taste of the match point format during the OpTic $200,000 tournament this week. And after a thrilling finale, community members want more.

OpTic Gaming kicked off the new competitive Warzone season with a two-day tournament on Dec. 11 and 13, featuring pros, content creators, and community members from other games. Skullface cemented his place as one of the best Warzone players in the first leg of action by winning two of the five Solo Yolo matches.

The second day shifted to a more traditional trio format, providing a platform for the scene’s best teams to show how much they improved over the offseason. The reigning World Series of Warzone champions—Shifty, Biffle, and Sage—competed with other familiar names such as Breadman, Fifakill, and Hisoka.

But instead of the standard multiplier format, the match point formula added stakes to a level we have never seen before.

Competitive Warzone fans fall in love with match point format

The 2023, WSOW and other major WZ2 tournaments used a scoring system that gave points for every elimination, and that score was multiplied based on their final placement in the match.

In contrast, the match point format awards one point per elimination and a separate set amount of points based on placement. For example, squads earn 15 points for placing first or 10 for placing second.

Eliminating the multiplier makes it easier for fans to track how many points their favorite team has. Then, once a team reaches 100 points, they must win an additional match to secure the victory officially. So even though JoeWo’s team was the first to reach 100 points in the OpTic tournament, other teams still had a chance to catch up until JoeWo’s team won another match. As a result, multiple teams reached the 100-point threshold, and winning one final game became an intense race.

Everything relying on a squad winning captured the essence of the battle royale formula, and community members loved it.

“Seems like Warzone competitors agree that match point is the new favorite custom tournament format moving forward and that’s a major W,” WZ content creator Modern Warzone said.

Notably, the Apex Legends Global Series also uses the match point system for its major LAN tournaments, and some fans argue it’s the best way to hold a tournament. 

“Definitely a W. Apex is a good example of how much more exciting it is for the viewer and competitors in that format,” one viewer said.

Additionally, the format forces competitors to be more aggressive than the Solo Yolo format, where the only important thing is staying alive until the end. 

“10 times better to watch than five back-to-back Solo Yolo games, where each map took an age to get interesting,” a second commenter argued. There will be plenty more opportunities for fans to watch the match point format as the new Warzone competition season has just started.