Presented by: Dexerto
Long-time Call of Duty fan favourite Scump has won everything there is in the esport, maintaining remarkable consistency across several CoD titles to keep competing at the highest level as a pro gamer since his first event in 2011.
15 billion plus in revenue over 250 million units sold 100 million unique players so how does anyone player become known as the king in a game series as monolithic as all-encompassing as Call of Duty the answer is simple by being the best and in 2017 when Optic Gaming stales maniacs Scump finally won his first world championship he proved once and for all that he was just that this is the story of Scump and how seven years of consistent brilliance transformed a 14 year old kid playing Black Ops in his bedroom into a bona fide Superstar.
In 2010 14 year old Seth Abner sits alone in his bedroom grinding away at his favorite video game is already good at Call of Duty good enough to win online Black Ops tournaments but right now nothing more.
Nobody knows it yet but the kids already taken his first steps towards world domination for Seth known online as Scump victory was always in his blood his father Shawn was a first pick in the 1984 MLB draft and that innate ability when it all costs had apparently been passed down to his son in the form of Competitive Gaming game battles and other online tournament seemed too easy and then Scump won his first lands.
Still at 15 years old for the now disbanded Quantic leverage in winning the $10,000 MLG Dallas 2011 top prize Scump and his young teammates were thrust straight into the top of the Call of Duty ecosystem respectable fourth and MLG Columbus increased their stock further before another 10K victory at MLG Anaheim proving these guys were more than just a flash in the pan Scump’s former teammate Bobby soon retired from competitive Call of Duty. But TP ACHES and Scump were solidified as superstars for the future of Call of Duty and larger teams and quantic leverage had noticed his progression.
After quantic leverage disbanded TP and ACHES moved on to complexity but Skump signed with optic gaming in 2011 consistent podium finishes for optic followed straight away.
The COD eSports in eSports in general hadn't yet hit the dizzying heights of today prize pools were relatively small but they were trending upwards in the biggest event on the calendar was Call of Duty XP a precursor to the World Championships sponsored by Activision.
This was the first ever billion-dollar COD tournament and Optic Gaming would take the top prize, but for Scump himself victory was bittersweet as he was too young to enter, optic earned the $400,000 top prize with substitute Vengeance while Scump watched painfully from the sidelines with multiple LAN Podium finishes in a Call of Duty XP Victory the Modern Warfare 3 era belonged to Optic but it wasn't enough. Ahead of the Black Ops 2 season Rambo was replaced by the exciting new talent Nadeshot.
Total world domination was clearly on the minds of optic gaming but the season predictions began to deceive they started well winning UMD Chicago in 2012, and the power rankings had them as a top three team all season but land victories themselves were rare in April of 2013 at the Call of Duty inaugural World Championships Scump ran into his first-ever heartbreak when Optic found themselves against Fariko in the losers finals.
They could almost smell the $400,000 top prize though they were heavy underdogs optic believed they could make it to the grand finals, but it wasn't to be and the team had to settle for third an impressive 120.000 dollars to their name Skump’s ability was clear the money was rolling in fast but what was the real takeaway? It was his unquenchable thirst for a world championship?
Turns out that Scump is human so some seasons are gonna be better than others but the COD Ghosts era marks the only time his credentials as one of the best could be legitimately questioned five months into the season heading into the 2014 World Championship Optic had earned precisely nothing in land prize money.
The lineup was constantly chopped and changed seemingly more in desperation than any sort of coherent plan well-known players such as Parasite and Ricky even made brief cameos, but nothing was working after barely scraping top 12 at UMG Philadelphia particularly as Scump's old Quantic leverage teammates TP and ACHES won the event with complexity Sump felt he needed a change in January of 2014 Scump turned his back on optic waltzing into the open arms of an old enemy team Envyus.
So like I said, I'm not in optic gaming anymore I got up and left. And yes, I did leave I went to team envyus with Proofy MerK and Goonjar as Rambo is the coach (Scump).
Then two weeks later he came back, was it a power play or genuine change of heart, whatever happened behind closed doors the announcement of his optic return laid it all on the line Skump was fired up Nadeshot was fired up Optic was fired up.
All they had to do was be better another third place at the 2014 World Championship would usually disappoint. But after the first tough season of Scump’s career, simply being competitive was a relief something suddenly seemed to click optic would then go on to win gold at the X Games three months later the first event to ever feature call of duty and highlight it on national television.
Even sweeter Scump got the upper hand on his old Quantic leverage teammates beating an evil genius roster featuring TP and ACHES in the semi-finals the run of form continued to the end of the season with consistent podium finishes including second at the MLG Anaheim International playoffs with so much momentum the advanced Warfare era look to set up a good run for optic.
The Ghost season ended well but the Constantine changes did no favours for their consistency. Finally at the onset of Advanced Warfare optic gaming found their dream roster NADESHOT ( Matthew Haag), FORMAL (Matthew Piper), CRIMSIX (Ian Porter) and Scump (Seth Abner).
The Optic Team that reigned supreme in total this season featured 9 first place finishes and 4 silver medals from 14 LANs going into Worlds midway through this was without a doubt the team to beat they had the momentum the talent the self belief, but best of all they had Scump in Los Angeles, California on March 29th, 2015 at the Call of Duty World Championships for a 1 million dollar prize pool optic gaming competed in a 32 team double elimination tournament and finished seventh it was a sobering moment so much so that NADESHOT took a leave of absence before announcing his retirement from competitive Call of Duty.
Basically, I am going to be taking a break from competitive Call of Duty a leave of absence if you will (NADESHOT).
He would then go on to form 100 Thieves now competing in the pro league, but it wasn't all bad news the man who will replace him Karma was a two-time world champion Optics swallowed their worlds disappointment and just kept on winning tournaments they ended with a massive $100,000 Victory in the 2015 MLG World Finals Advanced Warfare had been kind to Scump, but it was time for a new challenge Call of Duty Black Ops 3 another season of utter dominance awaited.
Prize pools were increasing. Activision became more heavily involved in the scene funding the Call of Duty world league and further in flooding the prizes a monster run from February to June 2016 saw them finish first in UMG CWL ESWC and finally MLG tournaments taking home over 156 thousand dollars in winnings. Dduring this period
It was the momentum it would bring one month later that was priceless once more optic were the favourites going into champs.
They were huge favourites the perfect season was oh so near but yet again they disappointed another seventh place finish and as if he needed any extra salt, it was envy Scump’s one time defect team that would win it all you must he must have barely cracked a smile when cashing in his share of the 50k prize money.
Just hearing the words infinitie Warfare is enough to send shivers down the spines of oh so many fans of competitive Call of Duty and at the start of the infinite Warfare season optic struggled. If it seemed like Scump had lost his passion his retroactive comments made it clear why:
Call of Duty Infinite Warfare you were sort of like that Uncle that just nobody really liked but we sorta just had to deal with you there is no way to get rid of ya. We were forced, you were forced upon us.
Optics early season performances were as abject as the game they were competing in thankfully they sucked up their indifferences midway through and got back on the grind with Skump back to his best, the winds continue to roll on in, optics soon won the $4,000 Paris Open and then the Dallas open for another whopping $80,000 more importantly they won the stage two playoffs at the 2017 Global pro-league another $200,000.
But it wasn't just the prize money they gave this victory weight after being knocked down to the loser's bracket Optic had to defeat the reigning world champions envy twice in a row and here they display their resolve somehow winning it in 3 1 in both series the 2017 World Championships were upon them and optic had found their format the ideal time. They were the team to be feared. One by one their competitors fell and Scump was playing the tournament of his life into the final day, they were up against the only team that seem capable of beating them.
Who else but team Envy which ended up knocking them down into the loser's bracket Luminosity were easily dispatched 3o setting up an almost unscripted Envy, versus optic for the rematch of the grand final championship Envy, the reigning Champions envy the one who briefly tempted Scump away from optic taking two series in a row would be tough but the players knew they'd done exactly that two weeks ago.
Optic and their fans had the belief series 1 a nervous 3-1 win forces the bracket reset Scump’s chance has arrived series 2 optic played the series of their lives coasting to a dominant 3rd victory and snatching the gold medal finally at the fifth time of asking Skump delivered and claimed his world championship ring.
The king of Call of Duty has now won it all he could step forward and claim his crown.
It seems strange to say that a season that started with the $32,000 third-place finish in one that included a $132,000 second-place finish was a failure. But for Scump and optic this is the reality the third-place finish at CWL Dallas the first Major World War 2 event hinted at another successful season, but they slowed down failing to achieve another Podium finish until April with second in the stage 1 of the CWL Pro League.
Even that placement stung they should have won a 3-2 3-2 victory for FaZe Clan still leaves a bitter taste in the mouth of optic fans the cod world openly accused them of choking.
On April 22nd 2018 Karma, Formal, Crimsix and Scump played their final lan together. The season was already fading the roster long since growing stale 13th at the Seattle open a change had to be made Karma was dropped Formal moved on to Luminosity gaming up stepped.
Octane and Methodz trying to stop the rotten core of Optic fifth at the Anaheim open and seventh in stage 2 of the 2018 Global pro-league shows promised sort of but then came the biggest disaster of Skump’s career the 2018 World Championship.
Despite their struggles Optic still entered the tournament as reigning world champions, but they barely even got going for Optic a top 20 for finish at the World Championship isn't just disappointment. It's not even a disaster it was an embarrassment on a personal level.
Scump had always shown up even the most abject of team performances, but not this time as his KD ratio was below even for the first time at a major tournament. Since mana warfare 2 Optic had won at least one championship title in every single season. The World War II season is where that streak finally ended.
With the opening major event of the Blackout's four season looming, Optics fortunes and the health of Call of Duty eSports is only up. Scump has seemingly fallen back in love with the game and recently streamed a minor MLG 2K online tournament victory to over 100,000 twitch viewers.
The scene is in a more positive place than it has been in quite some time and COD eSports as a whole is flourishing and Skump looks set to ride that wave with a change to the 5v5 format instead of the traditional four on four. Karma has rejoined optic and the old magic looks to be back the roster now reads as: TJHaly, Dashy, Crimsix, Karma, and of course the King and after going into the first Black Ops major at CWL Vegas in securing first place optic are back on top and a force to be reckoned with.
So what does it take to be known as the king in a game series as huge as Call of Duty
Well, you have to be as good as Scump and judging by his tournament winnings history in the game statistics and the fact his career is once more on the up. It'll be a long time before anyone can dethrone him.
