The Call of Duty League is nearing the end of the 2021 season, but before that happens, one of the most exciting events recently was the return to CDL LAN play with the Stage 4 Major. Though this was a highly anticipated moment, it was a bit strange for some players at OpTic. 

Those players, in particular, are some of the starting members of the OpTic Chicago lineup. During the recent OpTic Chicago podcast that is on their YouTube channel regularly, FormaL and Envoy were there to explain what is going on with the pro Call of Duty League team right now. 

While the podcast was happening, OpTic Gaming content creator Hitch inquired about how the return to CDL LAN was for the team. FormaL started out explaining that, overall, it was pretty “weird” for him and that it was not quite the experience that he had imagined it to be beforehand. 

This was something that was concurred by Envoy who echoed FormaL’s thoughts about the strangeness of the whole CDL LAN situation. The reason for this being the case, according to FormaL, is likely due to the fact that there were no fans in attendance at the Stage 4 Major. 

Despite the fact that the most recent tournament saw all 12 teams and their starting players and a crew of staff there at the esports arena in Arlington, Texas, it was sorely lacking one of the most important parts of a stage event like this one: the fans who are in the stands watching it in-person. 

This was done because of the fact that we are still in a global pandemic and Activision had to ensure that there were some measures in place for this return to CDL LAN play since there would be a good number of staff and players would be in attendance from across the country. 

It simply does not make much sense yet to have fans in attendance again, so this was the best choice for handling the CDL LAN return, but it still left the OpTic players feeling a bit strange. After all, they were playing in a large arena that would normally have potentially hundreds of fans watching. 

Even with the staff that were likely there watching everything go down live, that would not have helped the place from potentially feeling empty to them. Envoy added to this thought with his own comments, noting that Activision was apparently adding some white noise to the venue. 

In what form, it is unsure as we did not really get to hear much of that from the live broadcasts of the Stage 4 Major, but it seems that there was some background noise or music of some kind that was happening at the esports arena while the players were competing there. 

Having the white noise is a bit understandable since the arena would effectively be empty without the fans in the stands, so this would make the place be pretty quiet. That on its own might be a little unnerving for the players, so the noise was probably added to help with the silence of the large but empty venue. 

While that is a nice thought and something that was probably necessary given how bizarre the situation would have been otherwise, it likely did not help with the weirdness of everything for FormaL and Envoy. Furthermore, Envoy found that the CDL LAN play was so “different” compared to when there was last on-stage competition back at the beginning of the Modern Warfare season. 

It definitely makes sense for it to be weird in that way, too, since the vast majority of the Call of Duty League 2021 season has been online up until this point, even for the Majors. With that only just now changing for the second-to-last Major, it is an abrupt change that could be odd for the teams, even those who are used to LAN play. 

With that being said, there was a silver lining to the return to CDL LAN and that was the practice rooms that were available, according to Envoy. When teams were not competing on the stage themselves, they had practice rooms at the venue where they could prepare for the crucial matches ahead. 

This was very important since the players did not have much time to get ready for the return to local play since everything has been online lately. Having the practice rooms could at least give them a little bit of time to adjust back to how spawns, the lack of lag, and the like work when playing LAN Call of Duty. 

OpTic Chicago themselves had a pretty solid return to CDL LAN with a fourth-place finish after losing to Dallas Empire in the first round of the winners bracket, but then defeating Seattle Surge (who previously had an upset against them) in the elimination bracket, then a win against Minnesota Rokkr to take that team out, before another loss to Dallas who would go on to be in the grand finals and lose there to Atlanta FaZe. 

OpTic Chicago has long since been the third or fourth-best team ever since the inaugural season of the Call of Duty League, but that all changed this year with some notably underperforming couple of stages. It was great for OpTic fans to see that strong talent return once more in the fourth stage as well as the Major. It is likely that we will see more of that in the fifth and final stage of the 2021 season, so stay tuned for more info on that.