With a win over ENCE Esports in the Europe Minor, OpTic Gaming have qualified for the FACEIT London Major in September.
The Green Wall missed out on the past two Major championship events, last qualifying for the ELEAGUE Atlanta Major in January 2017. OpTic finished 1-3 at that event and failed to make it through the group stage. The roster for that event was different than it is now, however.
Of the five players OpTic had on its lineup in their last Major, none of them are with the team anymore. The current squad is completely made up of Danes, and they’ve looked solid since forming the team. And the Europe Minor was an example of their strong play.
The eight-team, $50,000 Europe Minor featured strong teams, including ENCE Esports, Ninjas in Pyjamas, and Sprout, that OpTic would have to take down. After finishing undefeated in group play, OpTic moved on to play NiP in what would turn into a pretty-convincing victory.
In order to grab a spot in the Major, OpTic needed to defeat ENCE Esports, a strong and improving Finnish team. ENCE started off the series with a 16-7 win on Dust II, but OpTic responded with a dominant 16-2 Mirage victory to force a third and final map.
The deciding map was Inferno, and Nicklas Gade’s performance made the biggest difference. The former North Academy player finished with a game-high 30 kills, as well as leading the lobby in average damage and rating. His strong play led OpTic over ENCE in 27 rounds to secure the team’s first Major spot in a year and a half.
OpTic await either NiP or ENCE, who will become the final team to qualify from the Europe Minor. Once qualified, they’ll compete against over a dozen of the best CS:GO teams in the world in the New Challengers Stage, which will kick off the FACEIT London Major on Sept. 5.
