Huke Explains Why OpTic Dropped iLLeY For An Amateur
OpTic Texas' roster turmoil claimed the career of Seth "Scump" Abner last month, and now, has forced the benching of former World Champion Indervir "iLLeY" Dhaliwal to round off the start of 2023.
iLLeY's 18-month tenure at OpTic appears to have come to a close, as he announced his free agency status on February 9 - splitting up the recently reformed Dallas Empire "XEO" trio of himself, Anthony "Shotzzy" Cuevas-Castro, and Cuyler "Huke" Garland.
The former of the old partnership has now spoken out about the roster changes again, taking to a podcast to claim that iLLeY's removal was something that had been considered way before he arrived.
Huke Reveals Why OpTic Benched iLLeY for Ghosty
Speaking on the Eavesdrop Podcast, hosted by OpTic owner Hector "H3CZ" Rodriguez, Huke opened up to why iLLeY was benched and the motives of bringing in an unproven amateur.
"It seemed to me that it was something that wasn't needed, but was something that was on the team's mind for a while now," Huke began. "I think it was just one of the moves that was needed for people to move on."
Timestamp - 45:00
"From being here for the last few weeks, I think it was just needed for them [Dashy and Shotzzy], it's just how sh*t works sometimes and how it goes. It's unfortunate for him," Huke added.
The SMG main inferred that there were problems within the camp between iLLeY, Dashy, and Shotzzy, specifically around gameplay rather than personalities, and despite multiple attempts to fix it, they've been forced to make a change and embark on a fresh chapter.
Huke and Shotzzy Talk About OpTic Ghosty's Pick-up
As for picking up the amateur Dan "Ghosty" Rothe, Huke explained that he was excited by what he's seen so far, and despite not playing together yet, the new OpTic recruit looks like a great pick-up.
"He's someone that it highly looked at right now, so I'm excited to have him here and excited to have him on board to show us what he's got, and I think he's got 'it'."
Despite Ghosty coming straight from Challengers without ever appearing on a professional team, Shotzzy also told the recently retired Anthony "Methodz" Zinni that he was looking forward to the acquisition, claiming that "the guys a nerd and he's nice with it."
Unfortunately for Ghosty, OpTic's Stage III qualifiers couldn't come any harder. OpTic will first go up against a resurgent Los Angeles Guerrillas team before going on to face four of the top-five teams (Toronto Ultra, Minnesota ROKKR, New York Subliners, and Atlanta FaZe) in a bid to get a top seed for their own Major.
