OpTic Gaming was previously denied scrims by some of the best teams in the NA LCS, top laner Niship “Dhokla” Doshi told EsportsHeaven.
Dhokla cited OpTic’s low place in the standings as a reason other teams did not want to practice against them. For teams that are consistently the best in the region, practicing against lower ranked teams might be seen as wasting time.
“Scrims and stage are completely different,” Dhokla said. “Sometimes, you don’t want to waste time with bad habits that show up in scrims but won’t go on stage. It’s a big difference, so that’s where denying scrims comes from.”
During last Sunday’s games, FlyQuest support Juan “JayJ” Guibert said on the LCS Analyst Desk that top tier teams often refused to scrim with ones lower in the standings. He said the lack of scrims between the upper and lower tiers of the league could establish different metas as teams reached separate conclusions about powerful picks and strategies.
This sentiment might be especially true for OpTic, who seem to be on a different page than the rest of the league. In both of the team’s games this past weekend, Dhokla was put on a splitpusher and the team ran 1-3-1 or 1-4 team compositions. In contrast, most of the other teams in the league have shied away from splitpush strategies, instead preferring to draft for 5-vs-5 teamfights.
OpTic is currently in sole possession of fifth place in the standings with a record of 6-6 after their undefeated weekend, the first in team history. The team will try and extend their winning streak this Saturday against FlyQuest at 7pm CT.
