OpTic brings in jasonR as temporary in-game leader

Former Splyce entry-fragger Jason “jasonR” Ruchelski will stand as the in-game leader for what increasingly seems like an ever-desperate OpTic Gaming.

JasonR acted as a stand in for compLexity Gaming in their ESL Pro League matches last week against Cloud9 and Winterfox. In the team’s games against Winterfox, he earned a 20-20 KDR on Overpass and a 22-14 KDR on Cache, helping the team win both maps.

In compLexity’s matches against Cloud9, he earned a 17-22 KDR on Nuke and a 19-15 KDR on Train. Despite winning a 1v3 clutch on Train against a dominant Cloud9, his team fell to America’s favorites with a 16-7 scoreline on Train and a 19-15 scoreline on Nuke.

JasonR will now transition from compLexity to OpTic Gaming as a stand in in the ESL Pro League and in other fields of competition.

The player is known for his gleeful presence in North American ESEA Rank S as a popular Twitch streamer. The last premier tournament he attended was the 2016 MLG Columbus Major, where he placed top-16 under the Splyce banner. After his release from Splyce in July of last year, he quickly rose to prominence in Rank S pickup games (PUGs). Ruchelski has placed top-10 in Rank S at the end of every month since August, and his highlights have regularly hit the top of reddit.com/r/GlobalOffensive. JasonR currently sits in fifth place in the Rank S Standings for March.

The role of in-game leader has been a tough position to replace for OpTic Gaming lately. When former in-game leader Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz left OpTic for Team Liquid in February, the once-great Green Wall fell from into a seemingly everlasting state of rebuilding. Although they experimented with Spencer “Hiko” Martin and Luis “peacemaker” Tadeu (as coach) at DreamHack Las Vegas and IEM Katowice, the team did not fare well and they were eliminated in the group stages of both events.

With jasonR, the organization is hoping to field a contracted fifth player for their roster as they sit at ninth place in the ESL Pro League. OpTic will compete against SK Gaming on Tuesday and Misfits on Thursday.