Dashy takes over SMG role at OpTic Gaming Los Angeles
OpTic Gaming Los Angeles have announced they will be making some roster changes ahead of the fourth competitive week of Call of Duty League (CDL), by moving Brandon "Dashy" Otell to an SMG role.
To say OpTic Gaming had a poor start of the CDL season would be an understatement, seeing how one of the most prominent names in the Call of Duty esports scene failed to win a single match out of four played so far. Ahead of the fourth competitive week, OpTic sit at the bottom of the league standings, behind the likes of Toronto ultra, New York Subliners, Seattle Surge and their city rivals Los Angeles Guerrillas who all won one match apiece.
OpTic Gaming's poor results ushered immediate changes in the team in a bid to find some stability and save the OpTic name from humiliation. Instead of signing new players or fielding their substitutes, however, OpTic decided to switch up the roles of its two star players. As revealed, Dashy will be moving to SMG role, while Austin "SlasheR" Liddicoat is set to pick up an AR.
The decision was announced by the OpTic general manager Eric "Muddawg" Sanders, who posted a short video on OpTic's official Twitter account, explaining the situation and giving the fans some insight on the upcoming changes.
Muddawg started the video by addressing the poor results of his team and apologized to the fans for the underwhelming results, stating "Obviously we [OpTic Gaming] are not performing up to the standards that we and you the fans expect right now."
Muddawg went on to acknowledge OpTic's results from their opening two events were underwhelming, as they suffered two close losses and two "complete blowouts" and that they are aware they need to improve, despite the fact they statistically played some of the top teams in the league. That, however, in Muddawg's eyes doesn't matter as their goal is to win the Championship and for that to happen, OpTic needs to perform up to par against all teams.
The biggest issues OpTic Gaming have on their hands, as stated by Muddawg is their poor KD ratio, Search and Destroy games, as well as their role positions, which will be addressed by moving Dashy to Mp5 (SMG), while putting an assault rifle into the hands of SlasheR, who is a traditional main AR player.
“We think his aggressiveness will be able to help us get some more kills around the map while simultaneously letting SlasheR, who is another traditional main AR player, control those power positions,” said Muddawg.
Unfortunately for OpTic, the team has too many AR players on the team, which does not fit well into the current meta, which heavily prioritises one AR and four SMGs, forcing OpTic to find a way to adapt and Muddawg believes the said move will help them with that.
Although Dashy is as well an AR main player, he is seemingly the best fit to take over the SMG role, while OpTic will look at 2016 World Champion to prove himself on M4A1.
"The team goal for the next week is to just grind as hard as we can and really prepare for the Los Angeles homestand event. After that, we have three weeks off when we can really evaluate what we're going to do next, by evaluating our performance at the LA event, and that will give us a window where we can figure out what next steps we need to take to ensure this is a Championship-calibre team."
Muddawg also pointed out that there is no single player on the team he needs to point out due to his poor performances, as all five need to step up and start performing better if OpTic are serious about going the distance and take pocket the inaugural CDL title.
OpTic Gaming are currently holding onto a 0-4 record and 3-12 map count, three weeks into the 2020 Call of Duty League season. During the Launch Weekend, OpTic faced off against Paris Legion (2-3) and Chicago Huntsmen (0-3), but without much success, as they left Minnesota empty-handed. That, unfortunately, did not change in Atlanta, where OpTic played Atlanta FaZe (0-3) and Florida Mutineers (1-3), losing both bouts in a rather humiliating fashion.
With four losses under their belt, OpTic Gaming are the only team in the CDL without any points to their name, which is far from the expectations many people had for one of the most well-known names in the CoD esports scene.
Dashy and SlasheR will show off their skills on new weapons during the Los Angeles Home Series, which are set to kick off on Friday, March 7 at Shrine Expo Hall. OpTic Gaming have been seeded into Group A alongside their city rivals Los Angeles Guerrillas, Minnesota RØKKR and Seattle Surge. Their first match will see OpTic face off against Guerillas, who are holding onto equally underwhelming 1-3 record, giving OpTic a perfect chance to pocket their first 10 CDL points of the season.
