Pacman announced as head coach of OpTic Gaming Los Angeles
Jonathan "Pacman" Tucker, MLG national champion and one of the longest playing players in the Call of Duty scene has been announced as the new head coach of OpTic Gaming Los Angeles earlier this Wednesday. This will be his first experience as a head coach, having previously been involved in the scene as a player, general manager and analyst.
OpTic Gaming, one of the iconic Call of Duty teams have announced Pacman as their new head coach with a short video, which they released earlier on Wednesday, thus finalising their team ahead of 2020 Call of Duty League.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF-pb0EIcJM
In the video, the players and team's general manager Eric "Muddawg" Sanders talk about needing the "final missing piece" which would allow them to contest the CDL title. Then Austin "SlasheR" Liddicoat seemingly thinks of an idea of who that final member of the organisation should be.
While the whole process of acquiring Pacman was understandably different as compared to what was shown in the video, it was still an entertaining announcement to watch, especially with OpTic members taking a jab at Ian "Crimsix" Porter and Charlie "MuTeX" Saouma. In the announcement, OpTic also shared a short clip, showcasing one of the most memorable moments in Pacman’s career as a pro player, where he, while playing for TSM, missed a point-blank shot against Damon "Karma" Barlow, during one of Call of Duty World League matches, thus handing OpTic a win.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAShjoalYkY
While Pacman's "fail" surely won't be forgotten anytime soon, he is still one of the most renowned CoD players in history. Throughout his long career as a professional CoD player, Pacman has proven himself as one of the best, with his most notable result coming in early 2008, when he, alongside Choppy, Robert "ASSASS1N" Walsh and Joey "Moho" Morehouse won the first-ever MLG National Championship.
Besides his title of MLG national champion, Pacman failed to see much success throughout his career, which was quite unfortunate given his talent and skill as a CoD pro. His other notable results were seventh place in CoD Championship 2014, fifth-eighth place at NA CWL Pro Division 2016 Stage 1 Playoffs and a handful of top-three finishes at MLG Game Battles series.
Pacman's last LAN appearance came in March 2017, when he competed at CWL Dallas Open 2017 with G2 Esports. The team finished 21st-24th.
Throughout his career, Pacman played for numerous teams, including Vintage, Rise Nation, Team Orbit, SYNRGY Gaming, Dream Team, 3sUP, U4X eSports, Most Wanted, Question Mark, Rush eSports, Team SoloMid, eUnited, Livin' the Dream, Red Reserve and G2 Esports. In April 2017, Pacman became the general manager of Rise Nation, before becoming an analyst for Activision in November 2018.
The 29-year-old CoD veteran will now take over the talented OpTic's Modern Warfare line up, which features Thomas "TJHaLy" Haly, Brandon "Dashy" Otell, Kenny Williams, the 2016 World Champion Austin "SlasheR" Liddicoat, 2015 and 2016 World Champion Jordan "JKap" Kaplan, as well as Martin "Chino" Chino and Jevon "Goonjar" Gooljar-Lim as the substitutes.
Looking ahead to 2020 CDL season, OpTic have their work cut out for them, as they are widely regarded as one of the weakest teams heading into the next season. While there is a lot that can change in the next couple of months, OpTic's failure to put up solid results in the online scrimmages is worrying, to say the least. Nonetheless, with the arrival of the experienced ex-pro and former CWL analyst, the Green Wall will certainly enter the inaugural CDL season more confident and better prepared to prove all the doubters wrong.
The 2020 Call of Duty League will kick off Friday, January 24, with the Launch Week, set to take place at Minneapolis Armory, Minneapolis, where we will see all 12 teams duke it out to earn their first CDL Points. Activision also announced a complete revamp of the tournament format as well as introduced a new point system which will be used throughout the inaugural season.
