OpTic Gaming COD Team Profile
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OpTic Gaming is probably among the most illustrious professional eSports organizations in the world, especially when you take into account their highly competitive engagement in the COD game series. The organization was founded in 2006 to become a sniping team for Call of Duty and over time has evolved into the leading COD organization in eSports.
Shortly after creating the initial OpTic Gaming team, their founder OpTic KR3W stepped down from his position. He let OpTic Jon3S take his place, before eventually leaving the team as well and making room for Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez. He had been leading the team for a couple of years, before they uploaded their first official video on YouTube in 2009. This provided visibility for both himself and the team, and acquiring many YouTube subscribers, whose number now stands at over 1 million.
Shortly after starting their YouTube channel the team formed their first competitive Call of Duty team, which would eventually garner one of the largest fan bases in all of eSports. 2014 and 2016 saw OpTic Gaming form their Halo and CS:GO teams, respectively. Here we will give you a short overview of the team’s history and notable accomplishments over the past years.
Claiming Stardom
While the organization was already well established back in 2006, it took them 4 years to form a professional Call of Duty gaming team which would compete at Modern Warfare 2. They eventually ranked at among the top eight at two events they attended that year, MLG National and MLG Online Championship 2010. In 2011, the team started competing in Call of Duty: Black Ops and competed at the $25,000 MLG event, where they came in 2nd place, led by a team consisting of Rambo, BigTymeR, MerK and ProoFy, with the win in the finals going to the Quantic.LeveraGe team.
In April 2011, they placed in 3rd place at the MLG Dallas and pocketed $4,000. The team changed its roster, enlisting JKap instead of ProoFy, and went to MLG Anaheim and MLG Orlando, where they took 3rd and 1st place, respectively. They ended their season on a supremely positive note when they placed 3rd at 2011 MLG National.
Team & Game Changes
After COD: Modern Warfare 3 was released, OpTic Gaming decided to revise their roster. This time the roster consisted of MerK, Vengeance, BgTymeR, and NaDeSHoT. At the next tournament, the team took the first place, defeating Til’ Infinity, infused, and IcoNs along the way. Shortly after that, the roster changed again, with Rambo, MerK, and BigTymeR leaving and NexXx, Krump, and Saints taking their places to compete along NaDeSHoT. This roster placed in 3rd place at the inaugural UMG LAN tournament. Before the end of the season, the OpTic Gaming team went on to take several 1st and 2nd places with various rosters, and established itself as one of the most dominant teams in this particular discipline.
The Fall and Rise of OpTic Gaming
When Call of Duty: Ghosts was released, the team started experiencing their first major difficulties. They failed to place in the top eight teams, both at online and LAN events. After several unsuccessful tournaments and many roster changes, the team ended up consisting of NaDeSHoT MBoZe, Clayster, and Scump. They went on to compete in the Call of Duty Championship in 2014, where they came in 3rd place and took home $12o,000 in prize money. After this success, they announced the formation of another team. The team was led by MBoZe as team captain, KiLLa, MiRx, and Ricky. It was named OpTic Nation. NaDeSHoT would go on to be captain of the original OpTic Gaming team, along with Clayster, Scum, and returning ProoFy.
Their new success powered the team into the X Games Invitational. Here, they managed to defeat Evil Geniuses and EnVyUs along the way. In the Grand Final, they defeated Team KaLiBeR. This was their first victory at a Call of Duty: Ghosts LAN tournament and also their first gold medal at X Games. Several events followed after this victory, where the team didn’t manage to repeat their previous stellar victories. Ultimately, they ended up leaving Call of Duty: Ghosts for good.
More Players, More Games
It seemed like with the new game coming out, the team’s roster would automatically change. With the release of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare OpTic Gaming changed its roster and ended up with Scump, NaDeSHoT, Crimsix, and FormaL.
This roster went on to take 2nd place at MLG Columbus. They accomplished one of the best seasons recorded by a team – 38 wins and 6 losses during the MLG Advanced Warfare Season 1. This posed a new league record. It gave them the number one seed for the playoffs, where they dominated the competition. From there, they went on to the Call of Duty Championship North American Regional event. The team ended up winning and getting the top seed to the World Championship, where they would finish in 7th place. This prompted NaDeSHoT to leave the team and the competitive COD gaming scene as well.
Back in Black – Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
With the release of the Black Ops sequel, the team changed its focus to the new game, but remained with the roster that proved to be the most dominant team in the league’s history. The team received an invite to the Totino’s Invitational 2015, where they managed to take 2nd place among a very fierce competition consisting of Rise Nation, complexity Gaming, Team Kaliber and Team EnVyUs.
Somehow this proved to be the turning point for the team. They seemed to walk through their competition with ease and take 1st place at events such as ESWC Zenith 2015, Gfinity Spring Masters 1, UMG California 2015, MLG Pro League Season 2 Regular Season, both 1st place and the gold medal at MLG Pro League Season 2 Playoffs, UMG Washington D.C. 2015 and MLG Pro League Season 3 Regular Season, while taking 2nd place at events such as UMG Dallas 2015, Gfinity Summer Championship and MLG Pro League Season 3 Playoffs.
2016 saw the team taking several 1st places at prestigious events as well.
Where to Go From Here?
So far in 2017, the team has only managed to secure one 2nd place at the NA MLG 2K Series in January. Apart from that, they’ve been taking mostly 3-4th and 5-8th place at other events in the series. They seem to be looking for the form this year, and it remains to be seen what they will accomplish till the end of the year. We are hopeful they will once again return to greatness and reward us with exciting displays of their supreme gameplay.