OpTic bested FORZE on Mirage (16-13) and Overpass (16-3) in the grand final of the GG.BET New York Invitational, securing the final slot for ESL One New York 2019.

Eight teams participated in the GG.BET New York Invitational qualifier for ESL New York 2019, with OpTic swooping the sole remaining slot for the $200,000 event. On their way to qualification, the team bested the likes of Bpro, Winstrike and BIG, concluding their run with a best-of-three grand final against FORZE.

In the aforementioned grand final, FORZE kicked off with overcoming the Danish squad on their own map pick, Nuke. The two sides produced convincing 10-5 CT-side performances, forcing overtime, where FORZE closed out with a clean 19-16. OpTic went on to return the favour, outgrinding their adversaries on Mirage, where FORZE stood the chance to close out in two maps, but faltered in crucial moments to concede the map 13-16 to the Danes.

Lastly, Overpass was played out, where Mathias "⁠MSL⁠" Lauridsen and company put up a stunning 12-3 defensive half, later securing four consecutive rounds on the offense to close out affairs.

FORZE	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Bogdan 'xsepower' Chernikovxsepower	67 - 49	+18	78.0	1.30
Dmitriy 'facecrack' Alekseyevfacecrack	68 - 68	0	88.9	1.18
Almaz 'almazer' Asadullinalmazer	50 - 63	-13	69.9	0.89
Andrey 'Jerry' MekhryakovJerry	42 - 67	-25	66.0	0.80
Evgenii 'FL1T' LebedevFL1T	44 - 61	-17	61.0	0.77

OpTic	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
René 'cajunb' Borgcajunb	62 - 49	+13	82.9	1.21
Mathias 'MSL' LauridsenMSL	67 - 56	+11	86.3	1.20
René 'TeSeS' MadsenTeSeS	61 - 50	+11	80.7	1.17
Kristian 'k0nfig' Wieneckek0nfig	65 - 58	+7	77.9	1.10
Nikolaj 'niko' Kristensenniko	52 - 58	-6	64.4	0.90

With OpTic concluding the participants' list, ESL One New York 2019 is set to kick off on September 26-29, hosted at the famous Barclays Center. Below are all eight contestants for the $200,000 event: