OpTic Texas have explained why they refused to replay their controversial CDL Major 1 match versus the Minnesota ROKKR, which resulted instead in an acrimonious forfeit.
The success of the Modern Warfare 2 season’s opening Call of Duty League weekend was somewhat overshadowed by controversy after OpTic Texas’ match with Minnesota ROKKR ended in a forfeit on December 2.
With the game winding down and OpTic closing in on victory in the Control mode, ROKKR’s Cammy accidentally called in an SAE scorestreak. A known glitch caused him to get stuck ‘in’ the streak and ROKKR subsequently lost as he was unable to do anything.
Initial confusion led to the CDL ordering a full replay, which OpTic refused. As a result, they forfeited the series and started the season 0-1, leading to a barrage of criticism towards the CDL and the ROKKR.
OpTic Texas lift lid on controversial forfeit vs ROKKR
In December 8’s OpTic podcast, org leader H3CZ and Head Coach Rambo explained exactly what happened and why they refused to replay the match.
Rambo revealed that the team agreed to forfeit the Control on the basis they could play out the rest of the series. The CDL apparently agreed, before reversing their decision and telling OpTic that a refusal to replay would result in forfeiting the series as a whole.
“So okay we don’t wanna replay this map, let’s move on to the next map,” Rambo said. “And we were told we can’t. We were told if we forfeit this, we forfeit the entire match… in what world does that make sense?”
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
Timestamp: 12:25
Speaking passionately about the situation, H3CZ revealed that the team agreed to forfeit the series to highlight an issue that otherwise would have been swept under the proverbial rug.
“We’re not gonna play along with you to protect something that is so egregiously wrong with this league,” he said. “This is not amateur hour… You’re telling me you can’t give us a little bit? You can’t give us four developers to sit there and try to remove a glitch?”
The SAE bug that affected Cammy was known about prior to the CDL’s opening weekend. The ROKKR star also revealed in a post-match interview that players were forced into selecting the SAE as a result of another issue, so the glitch was an acute possibility.
“If we don’t address it then it goes unaddressed,” H3CZ continued. “If they play along with it then there will be no fix. This sort of anger, this sort of discontent from the crowd needs to happen… This is year four! Where are we? What are we doing?… We’re not gonna hide the fact there’s no support here.”
OpTic recovered somewhat from their disappointing and controversial start, beating Florida 3-0. They enter CDL Major 1’s second qualifying weekend 1-1 as a result.
