During their first match of the Call of Duty League Playoffs, OpTic Gaming Los Angeles suffered two disconnects, but Brandon ‘Dashy’ Otell subbed in for the final map and helped defeat crosstown rivals LA Guerrillas and carry his team into the next round.
Neither OGLA nor their opponents, the Los Angeles Guerrillas, were held in particularly high regard coming into CDL Champs, with the former entering the postseason at 9-17, the latter at 5-17.
But OpTic Gaming made some roster changes, including benching Dashy back in June 2020, and that appeared to revitalize the squad heading into the $4.6 million Playoffs.
However, despite the high hopes, the Green Wall found themselves facing adversity early after Kenny ‘Kuavo’ Williams lagged out of the map one Hardpoint on Gun Runner, which could not be replayed since his disconnect came too late.
[#CDLPlayoffs | Losers R1]@LAGuerrillas off to a 1-0 lead after @Kuavo lags out mid-map and @OpTicGaming are forced to play 4v5.
As per league rules, the map cannot be replayed if the player disconnects after a certain point.
? https://t.co/OeD7EPWFO8 pic.twitter.com/HEppihBCJ1
— DEXERTO Call of Duty #Warzone (@DexertoIntel) August 19, 2020
After OpTic came back to take a 2-1 lead, Kuavo disconnect once more, again on Hardpoint, which Guerrillas won, of course, and sent the series to a winner-takes-all fifth game.
In a last-minute move, the former Rookie of the Year decided to selflessly forego the possibility of another disconnect and have the team sub in Dashy — who hadn’t played a match, or even scrimmed, in seven weeks.
Really hope the squad pulls it out, Brandon is subbing in last map because I don’t wanna risk lagging out due to us not being able to make mid game sub????????
— ??Kenny (@Kuavo) August 19, 2020
Lighting the Bat-Signal: Dashy’s return
Dashy was widely considered one of the best players during Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 before struggling during Modern Warfare and eventually being benched alongside Martin ‘Chino’ Chino for two Challengers amateurs from UYU: Zack ‘Drazah’ Jordan and Darien ‘Hollow’ Chverchko.
— OpTic Gaming™ (@OpTicGaming) August 19, 2020
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But despite that fall from grace and absence of playing time, Dashy came back, saw the competition, and conquered the opportunity, dropping nine kills against seven deaths with his team’s postseason survival on the line.
Although he claims to have not sniped in two months, he picked up the AX-50, held angles for star teammate Thomas ‘TJHaLy’ Haly, and proceeded to fry himself. Looks like his confidence in telling General Manager Eric ‘Muddawg’ Sanders to sub him in paid off after all.
I just called @DashySZN and he goes “Shit man, just put me in for Picadilly. Btw I haven’t sniped in 2 months but I was beaming”
— Muddawg (@Muddawg) August 19, 2020
Two disconnects and a last-second substitution later, OGLA are moving onto the next round of the losers bracket, where they’ll face the loser of the New York Subliners vs Minnesota ROKKR match fin the first round of the winners bracket.
One has to imagine that Kuavo will be back in the lineup by that next match, but booters beware: OGLA have the “Bruce” card up their sleeve and it’s clear that he can drop in and pop off at any moment.
You can watch all of the matches live and follow all the action via our CDL Playoffs and Championship Weekend hub, which includes streams, brackets, scores, and more.
