When you think of esports rivalries, who comes to mind?
OpTic Gaming vs Envy in Call of Duty? Astralis and Team Liquid in CS:GO? How about The Telecom Wars? Only five team-based rivalries could make our list this week, so let us know if your favorite made the cut over at Upcomer’s YouTube channel.
At number five, we have G2 and Fnatic. Fnatic were dominating the European League of Legends scene long before G2 even existed. And their founder Ocelote experienced first hand as a player just how good Fnatic were.
But eight years on from that infamous xPeke backdoor, Ocelote’s G2 is thriving. They currently have eight Championship titles, the most in the LEC and just one ahead of Fnatic. Three of those were won by beating Fnatic at the playoffs finals. Since the EU LCS rebranded to the LEC back in 2019 every single playoffs final but two have been between G2 and Fnatic.
Of course when Fnatic’s star players started jumping ship to G2’s side, it made things even more interesting. Not to mention, the fans live for the G2 v Fnatic match up. Their Summer 2020 playoffs game peaked at a record-breaking 900,000 concurrent viewers, and it’s not difficult to see why.
At number four, we have the E-Classico. OpTic vs Envy is a Call of Duty rivalry that’s been brewing for more than 10 years.
From notable players swapping between the two teams to just straight up drama and beef, this is a rivalry that has everything.
While Envy has the most ever Champs grand final appearances, OpTic had the greatest CoD roster of all time. Funnily enough, before the induction of the Call of Duty League, both teams had to take down the other on their way to winning their only Champs title. Envy knocked out OpTic at the 2016 Champs while OpTic got their revenge a year later by beating them twice, once in the upper bracket and then, followed by the Grand Finals.
Nowadays, both teams have gone through a facelift, competing under Dallas Empire and OpTic Chicago in the CDL and the good news is, they are still very much rivals and things are more heated than ever.
Want to see the rest? Watch the video above and head over to our YouTube channel.
