‘Shotzzy’ wore someone else’s shoes in OpTic Texas’ Call of Duty League Major I win over Seattle

ARLINGTON — Anthony “Shotzzy” Cuevas-Castro can’t take a break when it comes to the rules for Call of Duty League games in 2022. OpTic Texas head coach Ray “Rambo” Lussier had to break the news the first time.

This time, ahead of OpTic Texas’ 3-0 victory over the Seattle Surge at Esports Stadium in Arlington on Thursday, Lussier had to deliver a pair of shoes to Cuevas-Castro.

Players can’t wear slides on stage, so Cuevas-Castro had to borrow Envy’s social media manager, Justin Palacios, to perform in front of the OpTic crowd at ESA. Lussier brought Cuevas-Castro his slides on stage before the match.

“To get up there we had to wear shoes and I only brought my slides,” Cuevas-Castro told the Dallas Morning News. “So I had to wear someone else’s shoes to get up there. Every time Ray came, he gave me my slides. And then he said to me ‘every time you leave, make sure you put on some shoes’.

Palacios was happy to lend his Balenciaga Speed ​​Graffiti sneakers. While Shotzzy couldn’t wear slides, there was nothing stopping him from sliding around the map against the Surge.

Foolishness aside, Texas dominated in their first LAN Series victory of the season, and Shotzzy was a catalyst. OpTic won the Bocage hardpoint after a technical reset, engineered a search and destroy victory, and tightened Tuscan control.

“Yesterday was a huge push for us in the scrims. Our communications were the best of the whole year,” Lussier said. “Ant has stepped up dramatically, in terms of communications. Our communication is such an important factor in how this team is going to be at the end of the year.

OpTic Texas did itself a favor by avoiding an appearance in a loser pool, but the path to a Major I title only got more bumpy. OpTic takes on defending world champion Atlanta FaZe at 3:30 p.m. CST on Sunday. OpTic and FaZe, two of the most notable brands in Call of Duty history, have not played a LAN match against each other since February 2, 2020, when OpTic was still in Los Angeles and no with President Hector Rodriguez.

Shotzzy and the Dallas Empire were knocked out of the Champs by Atlanta in 2021. Cuevas-Castro hasn’t forgotten that.

“Last year they had our number. They played very well against us when they knocked us out. This year is a bit different,” Cuevas-Castro said. “We are better prepared this year and have game plans and situations for each game mode.”

Texas has been playing a different level of Call of Duty lately. OpTic lost its first two games of the season by a single search-and-destroy round each outing. Their four wins since have all been lopsided.

Cuevas-Castro credited Texas’ vast card pool. Lussier felt he could get even more improvements from his roster.

“If you had asked me to put in a million dollars for us to win the tournament, I probably wouldn’t have done it,” Lussier said. “We still have a chance to win and we are very much in contention. But I think our next game against FaZe is really going to show where our progress is.

As long as Cuevas-Castro has shoes to wear, OpTic Texas is a threat.

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