The Electronic Sports World Cup took place this weekend in Paris, France. A total of 8 professional Call of Duty teams qualified or were invited to attend, including the champions of the 2015 Call of Duty Championship, Denial eSports. We previewed the event previously.
Though Optic Gaming picked up Karma after Nadeshot announced his break, he did not attend ESWC. Enable, who is currently on the roster for Faze Red and placed 3rd with them at CoD Champs, stepped into his place. Also at the event, Team Revenge, who placed 2nd at CoD Champs with a young roster, attended as a full team but have stated that this was the last event they would do so. Aqua and Nagafen are now starters on the Prophecy roster for the MLG Pro League and Faccento is with Team Orbit.
In pool play on the first day, two major upsets were witnessed: Optic Gaming losing to Barrage eSport and Revenge losing to Vitality Storm. Both matches came down to a 3-2 map count. Optic Gaming still qualified for the playoff, however, after defeating Denial in their group play match up. From Group A, Optic and Denial advanced, and from Group B, Revenge and Vitality. Epsilon, the favored UK team in the tournament, were eliminated after a 3-way tie. The tournament rules stated that in the case of a tie, the teams with the best overall map counts would move on.
In the playoff bracket, Optic Gaming made slight work of Vitality Storm by defeating them 3-0. In the other matchup, Denial played yet another close series with Team Revenge and managed to come out on top. The final between Optic and Denial ended 3-1 in favor of Optic. More news from ESWC can be found on their website.
In response to the Electronic Sports World Cup, many fans of competitive Call of Duty have stated that they were very impressed with the production. The stadium used for the event was built for the spectators, not just the players on stage competing. Instead of the usual silent crowd at Call of Duty events, watching and only cheering during a big play, the crowd in Paris was on fire! Check out the video taken by Aqua, who was in attendance playing for Team Revenge this weekend. It is not apparent what was happening in-game during the time of the video, but does that matter? The entire crowd was loud and chanting, and a few spectators were on their feet with their hands in the air. Chants of “Optic! Optic! Optic!” filled the stadium and nearly drowned out the sound of the announcers, but even through the noise, viewers could hear the enthusiasm of the announcers as well. It wasn’t only Optic Gaming that the crowd was cheering for either. ESWC was played out in Paris, and there were two French teams in attendance: Millenium and FaZe France. Even with the most popular Call of Duty organization in attendance along with two teams from the host country, the crowd was fair and there to enjoy fantastic matches. Cheering fans and exciting game casters feed off of each other, and the enthusiasm was extended to the many viewers around the world watching the action on stream.
More reviews from the tournament can be found here and here.
