This article is part of our CS:GO series.
OpTic were not supposed to impress at ESL One New York. With teams like SK, Virtus.pro, Na'Vi, G2, Fnatic, and Astralis attending, the expectation for OpTic was to finish where they started – at the bottom of the totem pole.
Yet here they were at Barclays Center, breezing past Astralis and G2 in easy wins, and giving Virtus.pro a run for their money in a narrow 14-16 loss on Cobblestone. OpTic were eventually blown out by Fnatic, ending their chances of advancing to the tournament's final four, but they made their statement loud and clear: forget the past, this team is OpTic's present for the bright and foreseeable future.
When OpTic Gaming announced in January they were beginning their foray into CS:GO, the roster consisted of the following players: Shahzeb "ShahZaM" Khan, Will "RUSH" Wierzba, Keith "NAF" Markovic, Peter "stanislaw" Stanislaw and team captain Damian "daps" Steele. Four out of five of those players are still on the team, but don't be fooled; the 'Green Wall' has gone through a ton of changes in its first year.
In April, OpTic announced that Spanish player Oscar "mixwell" Canellas would be replacing ShahZam. In June, they signed Jonatan "Devilwalk" Lundberg on to be their head coach. In August, they replaced stanislaw with promising CLG talent Tarik "tarik" Celik, only to bring stanislaw back a few days later. The odd man out this time? Captain of the ship, daps.
After the rash of roster swaps OpTic had gone through to that point, the daps departure didn't come as a surprise to OpTic fans, but it was as puzzling as it was frustrating. daps cited tension with stanislaw as the reason for his exit. From daps' official statement:
"Today I announce that I will no longer be a part of OpTic Gaming in any capacity. Regardless of any tension stanislaw and I had over the course of our time playing together I truly do respect him and his work ethic as that is hard to find with a lot of players which has helped our teams success ever since we picked him up last year. Stanislaw is a really good player, very smart and will do an excellent job leading the team in the future."
daps left on September 27th. ESL One New York started on September 30th. Three days after losing the only in-game leader OpTic had ever had, they would have to compete against some of the most notorious Counter-Strike teams in the world.
Fast forward to Saturday, to the group stages of ESL One New York. OpTic was tearing G2 to pieces on Cache. tarik and stanislaw were raking in headshots, and clutching rounds left and right. NAF was cashing in on impossible 1-vs-4 rounds. Chants of "USA! USA! USA!" cascaded down onto the stage, as the fans in Brooklyn showed their support for the tournament's true Cinderella team. In that moment, OpTic looked like one of the best teams at ESL One along with Team Liquid, and the possibility of an "NA vs. NA" final, nothing more than a meme before the tournament, lit up like a wildfire in the imaginations of the mostly American fans in Barclays Center.
OpTic would eventually lose to Fnatic in a tense contest the next match, knocking them out of top four contention, but they left a strong impression. Even though they didn't win, OpTic are earning quite the reputation as Counter-Strike's new giant-slayers.
And retribution could still be in their future.
OpTic will again square off against Fnatic during the ELEAGUE Season 2 group stage (November 18th, 6 pm ET). If OpTic can rebound from their ESL One New York loss and defeat a Fnatic group that's a dark horse to win the ELEAGUE Major Championship in January, there is little reason to assume OpTic can't contend with Cloud9 as the best North American team in Counter-Strike right now.
If they can pull of the upset, and manage to advance to ELEAGUE Major Championship playoffs? Then all bets are off. Forget North America, OpTic would be contending with the best teams on the planet. For now, it's best for 'Green Wall' fans to keep their expectations tempered. ESL One NY was the first time OpTic's stock had risen, after all. But keep an eye out. David might look a little more like Goliath in the very near future.
