OpTic Gaming

OpTic Gaming
Location Schaumburg, Illinois, United States
Founded 2007
Manager(s) Hector "H3CZ" Rodriguez Jr.
Sponsors ASTRO Gaming, Scuf Gaming, Loot Crate, Red Bull (Partner)
Divisions Halo
Call of Duty
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Website http://optic.tv/

OpTic Gaming, LLC., also referred to as the The Green Wall, is a professional American eSports team and competitive gaming company. OpTic currently has teams playing Call of Duty, Halo, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. It was founded in 2006 by Ryan "OpTic J" Musselman and "OpTic KR3W". The company is owned by Hector "H3CZ" Rodriguez and co-owned by Matt "NaDeSHoT" Haag. The team is coached by Will "BigTymeR" Johnson.[1] OpTic Gaming is the most known Call of Duty eSports team currently ahead of 2nd place FaZe Black. OpTic Gaming are two time X Games champions, winning in 2014 and 2015 respectively. On 3 December 2015, OpTic Gaming won the Best ESports Team of the Year at The Game Awards 2015.

History

Beginnings

In 2006 Hector "HECZ" Rodriguez developed OpTic Gaming. The team played Call of Duty 2 for the Xbox 360.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009-2010 season)

OpTic took 8th in the Online Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 National Championships before placing 4th at the MLG National Championships 2010 and picking up $500 before the start of the next Call of Duty: Black Ops season.

Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010-2011 season)

Maat Haag was dropped from the team for the Call of Duty: Black Ops 2011 season which was the first season of Call of Duty on the Major League Gaming since Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. He briefly returned to the OpTic Competitive team, replacing a player who felt ill, at MLG Dallas where OpTic Gaming finished 3rd with virtually no practice as a squad. Subsequently, after mentioning the possibility of replacing the team mate that had fallen sick he did not get picked up. Haag played on several different teams in the professional scene and created his own OpTic Nation competitive team and started making videos and streaming footage. For the next two events he played for Team EnVyUs finishing 8th at MLG Anaheim and then 3rd at MLG Raleigh before playing on Surreal Legacy for the final two events of the year placing 7th at MLG Orlando and then finishing in 15th at the MLG Providence national championships to finish off the Call of Duty: Black Ops Major League Gaming season.[2]

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011-2012 season)

With Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 looming, Call of Duty announced Call of Duty XP where Activision hosted a $1 million tournament to showcase the newest edition of the franchise. With 2 members of the OpTic Gaming team not being available to play, Haag was picked up again. They made it to the Grand Final. They took the series 3-1 and the team won $400,000 and the trophy.[3] Again, Matt 'NaDeSHoT' Haag was not picked up for the main OpTic Gaming team and instead created his own OpTic team under the OpTic Nation brand, which did not go on to win any events. MW3 did not make the MLG 2012 season, reportedly due to the absence of a LAN function in the game. Because of this, only a few tournaments were held (notably 360 iCoNs and EGL) in North America. However, at Blackpool's EGL 8 Haag placed 7/8th playing under Leverage with notable players TeePee, ACHES and John.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (2012-13 season)

Treyarch were to make Call of Duty: Black Ops II which was the second game in the Black Ops franchise. The game was a success competitively and attracted a bigger audience through the season. With Frag Cup 4, an annual online tournament at the start of a new Call of Duty title, coming up a member of the OpTic Gaming competitive team was unable to play due to gambling restrictions in his province, and after impressing early on in the game, OpTic Gaming picked up NaDeSHoT, who rejoined the OpTic Gaming competitive team on a permanent basis. They finished in the 7th/8th position in Frag Cup 4 before going to the first LAN event which was UMG Chicago. OpTic Gaming started the tournament strong, making their way to the finals without losing. The team then lost the first series in the final. However, because they were the winners of the 'winners final' the match went into a final and decisive series, in which they were able to win 3-2 and become the first Call of Duty: Black Ops II champions.

The next tournament was MLG Dallas. Here, the top 8 teams qualified to compete at that year's Call of Duty Championships, which was an annual $1,000,000 event. OpTic Gaming went onto finish in the 5th/6th position.[4]

At the Call of Duty Championships, OpTic Gaming finished in third place losing to the eventual winners of the tournament. They then played in Gfinity 1 (G1) in London, United Kingdom and MLG Anaheim in Anaheim, California where were placed in third respectively at both events.[5] The next event OpTic attended was Gfinity (G2) in London. However, their new roster finished 9th–12th.[5] Their performance at the MLG Fullsail Invitational, where the four highest ranked Black Ops II teams competed, (and which was to be OpTic Gaming and MLG's final event of the Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 competitive season) was much improved, finishing in second place.[4]

Call of Duty: Ghosts (2013-14 season)

The next title of the Call of Duty franchise was Call of Duty: Ghosts which MLG announced that it would be their featured FPS title for the upcoming season again. OpTic Gaming disappointed at both of their first two events which were to be MLG Columbus (13-16th place) and UMG Philadelphia (9-12th place) before a roster change occurred with one player retiring, two leaving and one later rejoining. During this time Haag teamed with Christopher Duarte, who goes by the name of 'Parasite'. At this time, the team consisted of 'NaDeSHoT', 'Clayster', 'Ricky' and 'Parasite'. However, after only a handful of days, 'Parasite' and 'Ricky' left OpTic to join Curse Las Vegas. OpTic then picked up 'Saints' and 'MBoZe', before 'Scumpii' rejoined OpTic to replace the departing 'Saints', who returned to Strictly Business. After the retirement of 'BigTymer' following UMG Philadelphia, NaDeSHoT became the captain of OpTic Gaming.[4]

OpTic qualified for the Call of Duty: Ghosts national qualifiers for the annual Call of Duty Championship $1,000,000 tournaments after qualifying via MLG's online qualifying tournament. At the US Championship Finals OpTic Gaming finished in 7th place to qualify for the Call of Duty World Championship, after eliminating Curse New York in an elimination game in a best of 5 series. This allowed the team to qualify for the annual $1 million tournament. The OpTic Gaming squad played in the MLG Pro Circuit Season 1 online league where after a promising start they suffered problems online and were not able to qualify for the MLG PAX East Championship; eventually OpTic Gaming finished bottom of the league in 10th place. OpTic Gaming later announced they were hosting the winners of the US Regional finals, Strictly Business Gaming for a pre-LAN event for the World Championships.

At the Call of Duty World Championships, OpTic were placed in a group with Epsilon eSports, NSP, and SSOF. Controversy was caused when 'SSOF' were disqualified and OpTic only had two teams in their group. OpTic first played 'NSP' and beat them 3-0 leading to a group decider against Epsilon where OpTiC Gaming lost 3-0. However they advanced as the second seed and faced tK in the first round of the winners bracket. OpTic had a 3-0 victory against a team considered to be a top three team by many. In the second round OpTic was to come up against Strictly Business Gaming who they had hosted in a pre-LAN event, however they won 3-2 and played Australian team Trident T1 Dotters for a guaranteed top three finish. OpTic Gaming won the series 3-1 and guaranteed themselves 3rd and $120,000. OpTic were then to face CompLexity who were undefeated on Call of Duty: Ghosts and came up short in the winners bracket finals losing 3-2. OpTic then lost to Team EnVyus in the losers bracket finals, finishing with a top three finish and winning $30,000.[6]

On the April 15, 2014, OpTic Gaming announced that Marcus 'MBoZe' Blanks would be leaving the team in order for Jordan 'ProoFy' Cannon to join the team. The OpTic Gaming roster for UGC Niagara and for the 2014 season Call of Duty: Ghosts season was Seth "Scump" Abner, James 'Clayster' Eubanks and Jordan 'ProoFy' Cannon.[7]

At the new roster's first tournament together, a disappointing first day lead to them having to play the worlds best team, and eventual winners of UGC Niagara, CompLexity Gaming, who proved too strong for OpTic team. They narrowly won every map to take a 3-0 series win and knock Haag and his OpTic Gaming team out of the tournament. Before and after UGC Niagara OpTic competed at the MLG Pro Circuit Season 2 in order to qualify for MLG Anaheim's pro team tournament to contest for a $70,000 prize pool. OpTic qualified, being second place in the league.

OpTic Gaming team were invited to the MLG X Games[8] on the Xbox One after finishing in the top 3 at the Call of Duty World Championships. They went into the event as underdogs after a disappointing tournament at UGC Niagara, however Haag and his team were able to win their group after beating Team EnVyus and FaZe Red 3-1 to set up a semi final match against Evil Geniuses,(formerly known as CompLexity). Evil Geniuses were favorites to win the event after a dominant year at LAN events, but OpTic were able to beat them 3-1 to face Team Kaliber in the Grand Finals. They managed to beat Team Kaliber in a match that came down to a Game 5, Round 10 in Search & Destroy, and Haag was able to win a Gold Medal and his first MLG Championship at the X Games in Austin,[9] Texas.[10]

NaDeSHoT was voted by fans as The Game Awards 2014 eSports Player of the Year.[11] He took a trip out to Las Vegas with some of his teammates and sponsors to accept this award.[12]

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (2014-15 season)

Advanced Warfare was the next installment in the Call Of Duty Franchise for the e-sports circuit. The season began in November 2014. On October 28, 2014 OpTic Gaming, participated in an exclusive Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare streaming event at the so-called 'OpTic House' in Chicago, in order to promote the new edition in the franchise for its creators, Sledgehammer Games.[13]

In season opening competition, MLG Columbus on November 28–30, OpTic achieved second place, losing out to FaZe in the Grand Final.[14] They hadn't dropped a map all day until the grand finals.[15] FaZe narrowly took the victory, going all the way to a second best of five series.[15]

The second tournament of the year was UMG Orlando on January 1–2. OpTic achieved first place this time around. They went 0-2 in the first day of competition but his team managed to bounce back and with their other two games in pool play on the second day of competition. On Championship Sunday OpTic beat a young team called Stunner Gaming 3-1 in the grand finals.

OpTic was one of twelve teams to qualify for Pro League Season 1, the others being Prophecy, FaZe, Justus, Aware, Automatic Reload, EnVyUs, Denial, eLevate, Rise Nation, Team KaLiBeR, OpTic Nation, and OpTic Gaming.[16] The Pro League ran from December 8 through February 28. The team now consists of Ian "Crimsix" Porter, Seth "Scump" Abner, and Matthew "Formal" Piper. OpTic Gaming went 38-6 in the MLG Season 1 Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and qualified with the number one seed for the playoffs which they completed at with a $75,000 prize pool. OpTic Gaming went into the event led by NaDeSHoT and hoped to become the first team to win a LAN tournament without dropping a map. They went on to beat Rise Nation 3-0, they then came up against a team with young players called Aware Gaming who they beat 3-1 however this meant they did not become the first team to win an event without dropping a map. They then faced Team Kaliber in the winners bracket final who they narrowly beat 3-2 before progressing to the grand finals where they beat Denial eSports 3-0 to win their second event in a row.[17] This was OpTic's first win of an MLG event since winning previously at X Games during the Call of Duty: Ghosts season.

At the Call of Duty Championships on March 27–29, Optic announced their official long awaited sponsorship with Red Bull, after only Matt "NaDeSHoT" Haag, and Michael "Flamesword" Chaves were the only ones sponsored. Unfortunately Optic placed a heartbreaking 7th-place finish after being eliminated by FaZe Clan in losers bracket. Denial eSports ended up winning Call of Duty Championships.

On April 4, 2015, NaDeSHoT announced that he was stepping down as captain and member of the OpTic Gaming pro-team, partially due to disappointment from OpTic's CoD Championships placement. He said that he will become a full-time content creator as well as co-owner of the OpTic organization.[18] He was replaced on the lineup by Damon "Karma" Barlow.[19] However, Karma missed ESWC 2015 and the Gfinity Spring Masters competitions because of a pending United States citizenship application.[20] He was replaced by Ian "Enable" Wyatt, who was on loan from FaZe Clan. After NaDeSHoT departure, Scumpii replaced his place as a captain.

Tournament results

Counter-Strike

On January 4, 2016 OpTic Gaming announced that they had signed the former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team of Conquest. The new roster consists of Shazheb "ShahZaM" Khan, Damian "daps" Steele, Will "RUSH" Wuerzba, Keith "NAF" Markovic, and Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz.[21]

Current Rosters

Call of Duty

Nationality Alias Name Role
 Canada Karma Damon Barlow Slayer
 United States Scump Seth Abner Slayer/Captain
 United States Crimsix Ian Porter Support
 United States Formal Matthew Piper Slayer

Halo

Nationality Alias Name Hometown
 United States StelluR Braedon Boettcher
 United States Flamesword Michael Chaves New Jersey
 United States Maniac Nick Kershner Maryland
 United States Assault Clete LaRusso

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Nationality Alias Name Age Join date
 United States ShahZaM Shahzeb Khan 22 January 4, 2016
 United States RUSH Will Wierzba 21 January 4, 2016
 Canada NAF-FLY Keith Markovic 18 January 4, 2016
 Canada daps Damian Steele 22 January 4, 2016
 Canada stanislaw Peter Stanislaw 21 January 4, 2016

Former players

Call of Duty

Name Alias
United States Jordan Cannon Proofy
United States James Eubanks Clayster
United States Jordan Kaplan Jkap
United States Richard Stacy Ricky
United States Marcus Blanks Mboze
United States Joey Deluca Merk
Canada Ray Lussier Rambo
United States Richard Ferreira Flawless
United States Chris Duarte Parasite
United States Will Johnson Bigtymer
United States Matthew Haag Nadeshot

Call of Duty

Name Alias
United States Matthew Haag NaDeSHoT
United States Chris Bricker Option
United States Jake Sabo Felonies
United States Callum Swan Swanny
United States Jordan Cannon Proofy
Canada Damon Barlow Karma
United States Tyler Polchow Teepee
United States Adam Sloss KiLLa
United States Steve Canle Mochilla

Halo

Name Alias
United States Aaron Elam Ace
United States Cody Szczodrowski ContrA
United States Bradley Laws aPG
United States Mason Miller Aries
United States Justin Deese iGotUrPistola
United States Eric Wrona Snipedown

Owners

Nationality Alias Name
 Mexico H3CZ Hector Rodriguez
 United States NaDeSHoT Matthew Haag

Other ventures

OpTic Gaming is a sponsor of UFC fighter Joe Lauzon.[22]

In popular culture

The logo of the "World Gaming League" in the television show Gamer's Guide to Pretty Much Everything resembles the OpTic logo.

A book about the history of the team entitled OpTic Gaming: the Making of Esports Champions, will be published by Harper Collins on April 26, 2016.[23]

References

  1. ↑ Gaudiosi, John (December 10, 2012). "OpTic Gaming Hector Rodriguez Explains Why Call of Duty Will Be Huge In ESports In 2013". Forbes. Retrieved February 17, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Matthew "Nadeshot" Haag Esports earnings". Esports earnings. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
  3. ↑ John Keilman (26 Jan 2014). "Pro gamers enjoy celebrity, income from heeding the 'Call'". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 Knoch, Ethan (29 December 2013). "2013 Year in Review: OpTic Gaming". Esports Nation. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
  5. 1 2 Rubens, Alex. "OpTic Nadeshot Aiming at Redemption". Redbull. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
  6. ↑ Ryan Smith (31 March 2014). "OpTic Takes Third Place at CoD World Championship". Redbull. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
  7. ↑ Smith, Ryan (31 March 2014). "OpTic Takes Third Place at CoD World Championship". Redbull. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
  8. ↑ Garfat, Ryan. "Major League Gaming comes to X Games Austin". ESPN. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
  9. ↑ Rubens, Alex (June 8, 2014). "MLG X Games Bracket Recap: OpTic Gaming Finally Comes Through". Esports Max. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
  10. ↑ Levandoski, Coty (19 June 2014). "NaDeSHoT Takes Gold at First Call of Duty X Games". Redbull. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
  11. ↑ Sarkar, Samit. "Here are the winners of The Game Awards 2014". polygon.com.
  12. ↑ "MLG Columbus and Las Vegas Trip with OpTic Gaming!". Youtube.com.
  13. ↑ Keshav. "OpTic Gaming will live stream Advanced Warfare gameplay". Charlie Intel. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
  14. ↑ "FaZe Clan wins MLG Columbus". Charlie Intel. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  15. 1 2 "2014: MLG Columbus - Championship Sunday Recap". callofduty.com.
  16. ↑ "Pro League Season 1 Stats". optic.tv.
  17. ↑ "Pro League Season 1 Champions".
  18. ↑ Fahey, Mike. "Competitive Call Of Duty's Biggest Star Steps Down". Kotaku. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  19. ↑ Lingle, Samuel (April 6, 2015). "Nadeshot will leave OpTic, Karma tapped as replacement". The Daily Dot. Retrieved April 7, 2015.
  20. ↑ Lingle, Samuel (April 15, 2015). "Karma to miss ESWC due to citizenship application, Enable to sub in".
  21. ↑ Rosen, Daniel (January 4, 2015). "OpTic Gaming signs former Conquest roster". TheScore eSports. TheScore Inc. Retrieved January 4, 2015.
  22. ↑ "OpTic Gaming". Facebook. September 5, 2014. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
  23. ↑ Leslie, Callum (Jan 14, 2016). "OpTic Gaming first esports team to sign book deal, gets six-figure advance".

External links

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