The Toronto Ultra rebounded from their earlier loss to the Dallas Empire with an emphatic 3-1 win over OpTic Chicago, guaranteeing a top-four placing at the 2021 Call of Duty League Championship.
After going up 2-0 in the series, it appeared another unfortunate comeback may derail Toronto. The Ultra lost a close third map, Raid Control, and then allowed OpTic to take a late lead on Raid Hardpoint after a 100-point lead disappeared. Unlike the series with Dallas and the collapse against the Minnesota RØKKR at the Stage Five Major, Toronto closed the map and series out.
“Obviously, the Dallas game didn’t go our way. I felt like we could’ve won that, came down to the last round,” Toronto’s star rookie Insight said in a post-match interview. “But to get a win against OpTic means everything for the team.”
Insight and Cammy led the way in slaying for Toronto, posting 1.03 and 1.06 K/Ds over the series’ four games, respectively. Cammy made multiple vital plays throughout the series, breaking multiple hills on his own in Checkmate Hardpoint to keep Chicago at bay in map one. He also took on Scump and Envoy in a crucial one-vs-two moment that led to a Toronto round win in Moscow Search and Destroy.
Insight has been a top-tier player since stepping into the starting AR role back in Stage Two. And with Insight in the lineup, Toronto have had OpTic’s number. Since replacing Methodz with Insight, Toronto won all four matches in which they played OpTic, three of which came in bracket-style tournaments.
With this loss, OpTic’s season ends in disappointing fashion. The CDL’s most popular team finished sixth at the season’s final event after not making a grand finals all year long. This marks the first time in his career that a Scump-led team did not win an event in a season. Individually, Scump has had one of his best seasons in some time, especially in Search and Destroy. Unfortunately, the inconsistency shown by OpTic’s roster throughout the season ended up being their downfall.
Where OpTic goes from here is unknown. Scump and FormaL have been mainstay members of OpTic for years, while Dashy and Envoy are two young and supremely talented players. Chicago will face a tough decision this offseason when it comes to roster management.
Toronto will face the winner of the New York Subliners vs. RØKKR match tomorrow at 3:30pm CT.
