In one of the most intense grand finals in Call of Duty history, OpTic Gaming went the distance against eUnited, taking home the Call of Duty World League Dallas Open championship and $80,000.
EUnited put on a show throughout the grand finals, giving OpTic a run for their money every step of the way. It started out all OpTic though, as the team won the first two maps. With eUnited one map away from elimination, Pierce “Gunless” Hillman and crew pulled off the reverse sweep to force a second best-of-five series.
The second series was almost déjà vu. OpTic once again jumped out to an early 2-0 advantage. And eUnited once again won the Uplink and second Hardpoint map to force a decisive game five of Search and Destroy on Scorch. This time, however, OpTic convincingly took the map 6-0.
Seth “Scump” Abner, Damon “Karma” Barlow, Ian “Crimsix” Porter, and Matthew “Formal” Piper all played exceptionally throughout the tournament, only dropping one series (the first against eUnited). This win is probably even more meaningful for OpTic, as they were able to exact their revenge on eUnited, who defeated them in the grand finals at CWL Atlanta last month.
What’s more, over the course of the tournament OpTic defeated every team who placed in the top-eight except one: Evil Geniuses, who they never played against. By defeating the best-of-the-best on their way to the title, OpTic solidified their position as the undisputed number one team in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.
At the same time, Crimsix etched himself even deeper into the Call of Duty history books by winning his 30th tournament championship, more than any other Call of Duty player. This was also Scump’s 25th major LAN victory and Karma’s 21st. For Formal, CWL Dallas was his 18th victory, tying him with Call of Duty legend and current CWL analyst Tyler “TeePee” Polchow for the fifth most in Call of Duty history.
With Dallas now in the rear-view mirror, the 16 best teams in the world will all be turning their attention to the inaugural season of the CWL Global LAN League, which kicks off in Columbus, Ohio on April 20.