OpTic Expected To Sign Exciting Amateur As iLLeY Struggles With Thumb Injury
After kickstarting the new era of OpTic Texas with a long-awaited championship on their home turf, the Green Wall has started to lose its unbreakable touch, and following an injury to their in-game leader, there is a huge brick missing from their team.
A thumb injury to Indervir "iLLeY" Dhaliwal ruled him out of the most recent Call of Duty League 2022 Pro-Am event, OpTic opted to employ the utility of Jordon "General" General, who has been the substitute for OpTic and Chicago Huntsmen for the previous three seasons.
However, it appears that despite General’s solid performance at the Pro-Am, OpTic is looking for fresh blood and will be dipping into the amateur scene to fish out one of the most exciting talents to fill in an iLLeY-shaped hole.
OpTic Texas Set To Sign Prolute
According to reports from Dot Esports’ Cory "CCRONE" Davis, OpTic Gaming is looking to pull in the help of former New York Subliners Academy protegee Byron "Prolute" Vera to replace both General and iLLeY - the latter of who remains injured and will likely miss the next CDL Split.
Prolute has most recently been playing with make-up Challengers team WhateverItTakes, alongside NYSL outcast Travis "Neptune" McCloud, and operates in the flex position, which has attracted OpTic Texas.
The 20-year-old amateur has previously made himself known to both iLLeY and Anthony "Shotzzy" Cuevas-Castro through Search and Destroy tournaments.
Why Are OpTic Not Continuing With General?
General proved to be OpTic’s outstanding performer in the recent Pro-Am, stepping in against FaZe to post great stats on their way to beating CDL table-toppers Atlanta FaZe, before falling in the semi-finals to LA Thieves. So, as arguably their best player of the weekend, why not stick with General in the future?
Well, the answer likely lies in the team composition. General is a main-Assault Rifle player, much like Brando "Dashy" Otell, and while he did perform well as a flex, there was a distinct disconnect between his more methodical approach and that of a faster, more comfortable flex. In the series versus Thieves, they were often exploited in the gap between the two ARs and the two SMGs, leaving Shotzzy and Seth "Scump" Abner to hang dry.
Click to enlargeOpTic Texas could invest the time to transform General, or Dashy, into a flex player, but with CDL Stage 3 kicking off on May 13, a quicker fix is needed. Also, the effort of moving their main AR player for the sake of one split will likely throw him off being the Call of Duty League’s highest K/D joint-leader, as Dashy sits on a par with FaZe’s McArthur "Cellium" Jovel.
Instead, Texas look like they need a flex, and quick, and who is better than a fresh, young talent hungry for success and already has a familiar connection with their cracked SMG slayer?
