NEW YORK -- At Barclays Center, 8,500 people gather for the opening of ESL One's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament in Brooklyn. Fans surround the arena as the first game of the day Saturday, a showdown between North America's OpTic Gaming and France's G2 Esports, starts with a bang. OpTic has a lot to prove as it currently fights for the title of the best team in North America, a battle which has ensued between it and rival Cloud9 over the past few weeks.
And on the back of Spanish AWPer Oscar "mixwell" Cañellas, who moved to North America and joined the team in April, the team moves one step closer with a win over G2 at the premier tournament.
"I had to take this opportunity because, in Spain, there is no Spanish Counter-Strike scene," he said of his move. "There is a [small] scene, but we have no chance against international teams because there are not many players that can play. When OpTic reached out to me, I had to think about it because I had to leave home and stuff. [But] it was an opportunity that I could not decline."
Now, they'll have to play against North American peer Team Liquid, which is also in the running for the title of best in the region.
"I think the thing that got us to [ESL One New York is] that we work harder than before," mixwell told ESPN at the event. "Our team right now is working really hard. I can see that we are getting better and I know that Liquid and Cloud9 [are improving] as well, but we have a really good team individually. If we work as a collective team, we will be better than them."
Mixwell's confidence comes after his team took down Cloud9 twice in the past two months, once in the Starladder North America qualifier and recently in the ESL One New York qualifier that landed them here. The victories are even more significant due to Cloud9's recent hot streak after picking up rifler Timothy "autimatic" Ta.
Like Cloud9, OpTic has recently made changes. The squad originally removed rifler Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz in favor of adding Counter Logic Gaming star Tarik "Tarik" Celik. The team then rethought the move and welcomed back stanislaw in place of captain Damian "daps" Steele. This development seems to have improved the team's performance, despite replacing the player who has been their captain since the start of 2016.
"Daps was not a player for like four weeks, I think," mixwell said. "We were trying to get him as a coach, but [due to] things internally and stuff, we finally did not get him. What I really like about [Tarik] is his mindset; he brings a positive mindset to the team because we were people that also had a good mindset but sometimes we were stressed out and tilted. He helps [fix] that."
OpTic have to take up the challenge of beating their North American peers again as they look to the upcoming ELeague major qualifier for January's main event. Mixwell says that their most difficult opponent is Cloud9 when it comes to qualifying and offline events.
"Cloud9 [sticks out in our qualifiers]," mixwell said. "I don't really know what is happening with Liquid, but I think they're really good, though. In LAN they play better than online. Maybe with time they will get better."
There are other challenges to come before the major qualifiers begin. The second regular season of ELeague starts for them on Nov. 18. Their group, group D, contains Swedish squad Fnatic, French team Team EnVyUs and Danish squad Team Dignitas. This time, ELeague might prove to be more difficult for them, but a win over G2 here shows they're capable of what it will take to make it out of that group.
Mixwell says that he's only pleased if the team makes it out of the group in Atlanta in November.
"I think we will do better at [ELeague] this time before than [season one,]" mixwell said. "Last time we lost to Ninjas in Pyjamas 16-14 in the third map; that was rough and it was really, really bad for us. We had the game and we choked. If we go out in groups again [this time] then I feel like it would be a disaster."
He also says that he wants to improve further with the team, and that it won't make changes unless its current streak of improvements runs out of steam. "First step is not going out in group stages for international competitions, getting into the major as well," he said. "Making legends (top eight) at the major, that's my goal. When we reach the point where we don't improve, maybe we'll change someone, but right now we're improving."
As we talk, Mixwell holds pink and yellow papers in his hands. He explains that he was randomly selected for a drug test at the event, a policy that was first enforced at ESL's Cologne event last summer. This was to prevent the use of potential performance enhancing drugs such as Adderall, the illicit use of which has received coverage in esports before.
He said the experience of being tested was strange but also a sign of how far esports has come.
"It's really crazy [to get drug tested at an esports event]," he said. "They put a stick in your mouth and you have to salivate. It was 10 minutes with the stick in my mouth and I could not talk so it was pretty insane. I think the guys that do [the tests] here, do it at sports events, they told me. It's insane, we're getting professional. I never thought we were going to do that."