Despite a pool play faceoff on day one of the Orlando Major that saw OpTic Gaming only narrowly win over FaZe Clan, their rematch in the winners’ bracket finals was anything but close. OpTic was firing on all cylinders, and despite a valiant effort from FaZe in games two and three, the Greenwall swept them aside in a 3-0 fashion to earn their place in the tournament’s grand finals later today.
Despite the competitiveness of the series’ final two maps, game one was entirely in OpTic’s control from the very start. Perfect rotations across Streets in King of the Hill provided OpTic with almost every set of Rockets that came up in the middle of the map, giving them the edge in the crucial teamfights that each hill was captured off the back of. FormaL, Lucid, and aPG matched each other with 12 kills apiece by the time that the fourth and final hill had been captured and OpTic completed their flawless 4-0 match. With only four deaths, FormaL’s 10.3 KDA was a standout stat that foreshadowed his other excellent performances as the series continued.
The Slayer on Aquarius for game two felt more representative of the FaZe squad that had managed to take OpTic to five games on Friday, but they still lacked the ability to take control of momentum on the map. OpTic’s choice to dramatically slow down the pace of play forced FaZe into risky rotations, with many of them resulting in a collapse from OpTic and another set of kills to add to OpTic’s growing advantage. It was a game of contrasting fortunes for two players in particular, as OpTic star Lucid topped the leaderboards with 17 kills while a struggling KingNick on FaZe ended the 50-44 loss with 17 of the deaths on his head.
By the time the third and final game rolled around, FaZe’s attempts to claw back control felt subdued by the confidence on display from OpTic. Sandbox control was heavily weighted in OpTic’s favor throughout both rounds of Oddball, exacerbated by aPG’s efficient use of both the Overshield and Heatwave when his team had map control. Despite a shaky start from Lucid at the beginning of round one that resulted in an early 2-10 statline, all was forgotten by the victory screen. He ended up putting his resilience on full display and again topped the lobby, this time with an impressive 30 kills and the joint lowest deaths on his team.
FaZe showed flashes of their potential but ultimately could do little to stop the OpTic train from carving through them into the grand finals with a 3-0 sweep. They will have to bounce back against a resurgent Cloud9 coming from the lower bracket for a chance at revenge. With OpTic’s first real shot at a Major win looking more and more like reality in Halo Infinite‘s first competitive season, FormaL was still quick to temper the hype after the way similar dreams were dashed at Kansas City in May.
“Job’s not done,” he said immediately following the series. “One more.”
