OpTic Texas vs Toronto Ultra: what to expect?

One of the most exciting early match-ups on the CDL Champs card is the OpTic Texas vs Toronto Ultra series. This will be the third match of the event, with both teams coming into the series white-hot with momentum and anticipation. For fans of the Call of Duty League, this is a key fixture to stay glued to, as many early predictions suggest that OpTic Texas may go all the way this year.

It’s a close fixture to call, though. In the regular Call of Duty League season this year, neither team has performed remarkably well, but OpTic Texas certainly enters this bout with the edge. At Major I, OpTic secured a massive opening victory, before failing to really gain much ground in the year that followed. While Toronto Ultra managed to scrape a third-place finish at Major III, every other key tournament revealed itself as a weak spot for a team that was one of the most surprising forces in 2021’s Call of Duty League season.

Let’s break down this fixture and determine which team will walk away the victor.

From Texas To Toronto

As we head into the Call of Duty League Championship event, OpTic Texas sits in second place in the CDL standings. By contrast, Toronto Ultra is way down the table in seventh place, just one spot away from failing to make it to Champs altogether. It has been a tough year for Toronto Ultra, but it hasn’t been for a lack of trying. As the season wore on, Toronto Ultra remained relatively inconsistent in terms of performance, but this was a relatively tough year all-round for the level of competition that was present.

For OpTic Texas, the year started incredibly strong, and following the Major I win, OpTic Texas smashed through the Major II qualifiers, ending up with a 5 – 0 record. This eventually crashed down to a 1 – 4 record by the Major IV qualifiers, with OpTic apparently losing an entire head of steam going into the final Major. However, there were some late-season roster concerns, with key player iLLey spending a lot of time on the bench as a result of an injury.

Regardless, OpTic Texas is a bookmaker’s favourite going into COD Champs. At present, it seems that it’ll be between Atlanta FaZe, OpTic Texas, and LA Thieves, the most recent Major tournament winner in the CDL. Unfortunately for Toronto Ultra, the Call of Duty odds in play right now make it a mid-table team.

Making The Play

It’s important to stress that this isn’t the last opportunity for these teams in the Call of Duty League. When one team inevitably loses in the opening fixture, they’ll be cast down into the lower bracket, where they’ll have one final chance to prove themselves and push back up into the Grand Final.

Ultimately, we’ll be sitting in OpTic Texas’ corner for the opening match, as coming into the series, it certainly is the stronger organisation. While Toronto Ultra boasts an undeniably talented squad, the team has failed to really gain much traction this year. There’s skill there, but for some reason, utilising it has proven to be a problem for the squad.

Moving forward, the winner of this match will be forced to play either LA Thieves or Boston Breach, and right now, there’s no team hotter than the Thieves. It could prove to be a remarkable tough run either way, whether in the lower or the upper bracket. This is a close tournament to call, but only one team can claim the $1.2 million grand prize.