Top 20 Players of MW2: #7 Octane

EasyMac

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November 8, 2023 11:10 PM

The #7 player of the Modern Warfare 2 season brought to you by Thunder Pick is the Human Turret, Sam “Octane” Larew. The newly retired legend went out after a sensational season in MW2.


Octane has been a mainstay in the Top AR players in competitive Call of Duty since breaking into the scene during Advanced Warfare. This season was no different, as Sam finished with terrific stats in both respawn modes. It wasn’t the exact season the Thieves had hoped for, but they did win a Major Championship with Octane leading the CDL with a 1.23 KD during the complete Stage. His gunskill and game knowledge with playing the objectives are just some of his special qualities and will be greatly missed in the League next season.

Season Review


After a terrible Cold War season, the LA Thieves upgraded their roster going into Vanguard to become more competitive. They did just that, winning two Majors before taking the CoD Champs Grand Finals over Atlanta FaZe. The Thieves went into MW2 looking to repeat that performance at Champs with the same roster, which has never happened in the history of competitive CoD.

The season would start slowly for the Thieves, as they’d finish 2-2 in the opening qualifiers before finishing just Top 6 at the Major. With losses to Seattle & Toronto, the squad would have to go back to work before the next major cycle. While the team didn’t perform too great during the second qualifiers, they did enough to start in the Upper Bracket. After a Round 1 loss to Texas, the Thieves would win five straight matches to make it to the Grand Finals. Sadly, the run would be cut short, as the Atlanta FaZe would take the series 4-2. Even though they didn’t win the tournament, it showed that the Thieves are capable of making the Grand Finals in MW2.

The third stage of the season would be a rather forgettable Top 8 finish at the Major but the fourth stage is where the Thieves would rebound. The team finished 4-1 in qualifiers to get the 2nd seed going into the Major. LA would go on a run of 3-1 victories over Minnesota, Atlanta, and Texas to make the Grand Finals. Texas would make it through the Lower Bracket to set up a rematch, but the Thieves were just too much. LA would take the series 4-2 to win their first Major of the season. Octane was stellar throughout Stage 4, finishing with the highest overall KD (1.23), TES Rating (61.8%), non-traded kill percentage (75.4%), and Control KD (1.38). It was easily his best stage of the season.

Winning tournaments in the year following winning CoD Champs is a rarity, making the Major 4 victory a special achievement for the LA franchise. Sadly, it all started to go downhill from there for the Thieves. They’d go 1-4 in the final qualifiers, failing to secure an Upper Bracket start at the Major. They ended up finishing Top 6 at Major 5 and were unable to improve for Champs. Octane & Co would end up falling to both Toronto & Seattle 2-3 to be eliminated Top 8 in the final tournament of the season. Sadly, it would be the last time any of the four starting players would suit up for the Thieves.

How good was Octane in 2023?


Hardpoint
Octane excelled in respawns during Modern Warfare 2, finishing with great slaying and objective work in both modes. Over the season, Octane finished with a 1.07 KD in Hardpoint. He added per 10-minute stats of 22.1 kills, 81.1 seconds of hill time, and 2678.0 damage. Sam also had a 72.7% non-traded kill percentage and averaged 130.2 damage per life. His best stage of the season was during the LA Thieves' run to the championship in Stage 4. Octane had a 1.20 KD in Hardpoint over the entire stage, slaying and putting out great damage while doing the majority of the objective work. He had a CDL-high 107.0 seconds of hill time per 10 minutes with 22.9 Kp10M and a team-high 2804.8 DMGp10M. During the run to their victory, Octane was a key component.


As a team, the LA Thieves were one of the better Hardpoint teams over the entire year. They finished with a 46-34 record during Modern Warfare 2, while having a 23-15 record on LAN. During their Major 4 run, Hardpoint was a key game mode for them as they had a 6-2 record while going 3-0 on Hydro Hardpoint. Overall for Octane, he improved on LAN compared to in the online qualifier matches. For the season, Octane had a 1.18 KD on LAN compared to just a 0.98 online. The human turret was truly the objective king while still exerting pressure on the map on LAN.

SnD
While Octane was great in respawns, his weakest mode was Search & Destroy. This can also be said for the entire team. In Modern Warfare 2, the team had a 30-28 record in the mode but improved to 17-13 in LAN matches. Like Hardpoint, SnD was also a key game mode in the Major 4 run. After struggling in Stage 3 with a 4-5 record in the mode, the Thieves bounced back to go 7-3 in Stage 4 and 4-1 at Major 4. While this game mode didn’t suit the team greatly in MW2, they were still a dangerous team when it clicked.


Individually, Octane finished the year with just a 0.92 KD in the mode. He was efficient in opening duels though, having a 56.3% opening duel win percentage, and went 29-18 in opening duels when on defense. While his kills (0.60 KpR) and damage (88.9 ADR) per round were lower in the League, he added 8 clutches won for LA and 40 sniper kills. He did improve greatly on LAN though. Sam finished with a 1.10 KD in LAN matches compared to just a 0.76 KD in online matches. Looking at the differences between LAN and online statistics implies there was more to the EQuation.

Control
Looking at the final mode of Control, it arguably could’ve been Octane’s strongest mode of the season. The Main AR had a 1.09 KD in the mode with a 1.00 on the attacking side and 1.22 on the defensive side. Sam added a league-high 3.1 ticks captured per attacking side as well. His per 10-minute data was strong with a 17.7 Kp10M and 2240.0 DMGp10M.


LA Thieves were one of the best Control teams during Modern Warfare 2, finishing with a 31-19 record over the season and a 17-9 record in LAN matches. While LA had a better record on LAN, Octane actually had slightly higher numbers in the online qualifiers. He had a 1.12 KD with 17.8 Kp10M & 2261.4 DMGp10M in online matches compared to 1.07 KD in LAN matches with 17.6 Kp10M & 2221.1 DMGp10M. His best event of the season came during their tournament victory run in Stage 4. Over the entire Stage, Octane led the CDL in KD (1.38), attacking-sided KD (1.23), defensive-sided KD (1.61), TES Rating (64.1%), KA/D (1.52), tiers captured per attacking round (4.0), and damage per life (167.3). It's safe to say that Octane was one of the best Control players during the year.

A look ahead to Modern Warfare 3

In one of the most shocking twists of the offseason, Octane announced that he was stepping away from competing. Having competed since 2014, he has had a long and storied career. Octane has competed in 73 events in his career, winning 10 times in 6 different games. He leaves his mark as one of the best Main ARs in competitive history.

Looking ahead to what Modern Warfare 3 has in store for him now, fans can expect Octane to be a mainstay on The Flank while streaming gameplay and co-streaming matches. Now a content creator for 100 Thieves, Octane will still very much be a part of the scene moving forward.

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