The Battle Of Lost Angeles: OpTic VS Guerrillas

The Modern Warfare season has been a mixed bag for both franchises representing the city of Los Angeles. One managed to undergo a mid-season resurgence, while the other has shown glimmers of what it is truly capable of but ultimately finished the regular season in joint last-place. 

The battle of Los Angeles has only taken place twice during the regular season, with OpTic winning the first encounter at the Los Angeles Home Series, and the Guerrillas levelling the battle with a victory at the Chicago Home Series. For the third encounter between the two sides, the stakes have been raised. The loser is eliminated from the season-ending playoffs, without winning a single dollar in prize money, while the winner moves on and secures $100,000.

With plenty at stake, we take a look at which LA team has the edge as they head into their final encounter of the Modern Warfare season.

OpTic Gaming Los Angeles: The Favourites

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Based on regular-season performances, the Green Wall are undoubtedly the favourites in this particular match, despite having lost to the Guerrillas earlier in the season. Having experienced two slumps during the regular season, along with numerous in-game role adjustments, and some shuffles of the roster, the Green Wall may well have found their footing at the perfect time.

Initially, sending Martin “Chino” Chino back to the substitutes bench seemed like a questionable decision, given the immediate improvements that he made to the team. Still, the problems for the Green Wall appeared to lie deeper than just rotating out a player. Black Ops 4 breakout star Brandon “Dashy” Otell struggled to find a role that suited his style of play, whether it was being the aggressive sub-machine gunner of the team, or even a more passive assault rifle player. It came to a head when both Dashy and Chino were sent to the bench in favour of two hotshot amateur talents from the amateur scene, Darien “Hollow” Chverchko and Zack “Drazah” Jordan.

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The second London Home Series of the season would mark the debut of the profoundly altered roster, and after taking an in-form Florida Mutineers to a deciding game five in their opening game of the tournament, these changes looked extremely promising. The Green Wall handily dispatched the Seattle Surge to set up a rematch with the Mutineers in the group A qualifying match - but were defeated. Despite the loss, there were plenty of positives to take away from the three matches, Drazah and Hollow were the ideal additions to go alongside Thomas “TJHaly” Haly in the slaying department, while North American veteran and 2016 world champion Austin “SlasheR” Liddicoat began to showcase his world-class ability with the M4A1. SlasheR has been extremely vocal when it comes to the flaws of Modern Warfare as a competitive title, and perhaps this has hindered his gameplay this year to an extent. Frustrations aside, SlasheR has found form and at no better time for the Green Wall. 

With a solid combination of explosive slaying power and one of the best AR players in history finding his feet, OpTic Gaming Los Angeles has a real chance of running the gauntlet of the losers bracket and conquering the Guerrillas.

Los Angeles Guerrillas: The Underdogs

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Perhaps the only difference between the journeys of both Los Angeles teams is the lack of resurgence from the Guerrillas. Heading into the third battle between OpTic LA, the Guerrillas has undergone several roster changes in an attempt to make its way up the league table - but to no avail.

Since releasing two-time world champion Patrick “Aches” Price, the LA Guerrillas have chopped and changed a range of its players before settling with a roster of five players that could cause an upset ahead of the final tournament of the Modern Warfare season. Throughout the regular season, the Guerrillas have regularly featured towards the bottom of the placements apart from one instance at the Minnesota Home Series, where the team stunned the Call of Duty community, defeating the Chicago Huntsmen to score their first and only appearance in the top four. That performance alone shows that the Guerrillas do have what it takes to mix it up with some of the powerhouse teams in the CDL, but can the team bring it all together when so much is on the line?

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The key to success for the LA Guerrillas lies with Rasim “Blazt” Ogresevic, arguably one of the better performing players for the Guerrillas. As one of the more versatile players on the team, a solid showing from Blazt is often what makes the difference in some of the closer maps for the team. If he isn’t firing on all cylinders, it could be a quick Champs for the Guerrillas. 

The saying “S&D wins championships” is a common phrase in Call of Duty and in this instance, it could be what the Guerrillas need to knock down the Green Wall, and advance into the next round of the tournament. The team has bested the Huntsmen on Rammaza Search and Destroy during regular season play, and if the team can perfect strategy, snatching a Domination or a Hardpoint away from their rivals definitely seems feasible.

Despite spending the vast majority of the season at the bottom of the league table, the Los Angeles Guerrillas have plenty of experienced players all looking for their shot at redemption with a solid conclusion to the season. They are capable of snatching a respawn mode from OGLA, and if they can execute Search and Destroy strategies well, the Guerrillas have a chance to be crowned the best team in Los Angeles. 

Images via Call of Duty League