LA Thieves are reverse swept by OpTic Texas to exit Major II

Another major, another reverse sweep to send the LA Thieves home. In round two of the loser’s bracket on Saturday, LA went up against the reigning champions OpTic Texas. The Thieves were heavy underdogs, as they barely squeaked by the new-look New York Subliners in the previous round. However, early in the series, it seemed like the Thieves’ reverse sweep win against NYSL could carry them into earning a win against OpTic. That didn’t last long, though, as Texas showed the world why they’re still the best team in the CDL.

OpTic Texas knock LA out of Major II

The first two maps were all LA. On Tuscan Hardpoint and Bocage Search and Destroy, Texas were far too inconsistent to put together a winning map. On the other side of the main stage, the Thieves were playing smart and slaying out, with the exception of Sam “Octane” Larew. On Bocage Search and Destroy, Octane was 0-8 heading into the final round, which the Thieves somehow managed to win. This was also in spite of Anthony “Shotzzy” Cuevas-Castro making plays like the one below.

The 1v3 to ANNIHILATE the @LAThieves @Shotzzy | #BrickByBrick | #CDL2022 pic.twitter.com/OmwrTN8rWF

— Call of Duty League (@CODLeague) April 2, 2022

Map three, Control on Tuscan, is where the tide began to turn. OpTic did just lose this Control map to Seattle Surge on Thursday, but they weren’t about to let lightning strike twice. They dismantled LA in three straight rounds, attacking B with massive success on offense while keeping the Thieves off the points with huge slaying power on defense.

While this map swung some momentum to Texas, map four was Berlin Hardpoint, a map which OpTic is 1-4 on in the CDL. They did look better on it against the Minnesota ROKKR yesterday, winning by over 100 points. That success carried over for OpTic, as they didn’t let LA get any huge chunks of hill time. Brandon “Dashy” Otell dropped a 3.0 KD on this map, completely negating Octane and Kenny “Kenny” Williams on the side of the Thieves.

The series came down to map five on Tuscan Search and Destroy. The first four rounds ended with LA going up 3-1. They looked impressive, making the correct play calls and reading OpTic’s movements on the map well. This was the last bit of success the Thieves would see in this series. Texas put round after round together, with Shotzzy making Tuscan his playground. While the Thieves made it close, they eventually were defeated by OpTic in ten rounds.

Reverse sweep COMPLETED ✅@OpTicTexas clutch up in Game 5 and keep their back-to-back title hopes alive!#BrickByBrick | #CDL2022 pic.twitter.com/sfQSvucJ6k

— Call of Duty League (@CODLeague) April 2, 2022

This is the second major in a row that LA has lost due to a reverse sweep. OpTic Texas now move on to play the loser of Florida and Boston in the loser’s bracket.