- OpTic Gaming (playing as OpTic Chicago) and Envy Gaming (playing as Dallas Empire) have finally officialized their merger
- The two teams will abandon their former brands and will now operate as OpTic Texas
- The extra CDL slot left in the wake of the merger will eventually be sold
A long-time rivalry has come to an end as OpTic Chicago and Dallas Empire/Envy have come together as OpTic Texas.
OpTic Texas Emerges from the Merger
Call of Duty franchises OpTic Gaming and Envy Gaming have finally announced their merger months after the first signs. Abandoning their former OpTic Chicago and Dallas Empire brands, the organizations will now work under the name OpTic Texas.
The leader of OpTic Gaming, Hector “HECZ” Rodriguez, spoke about the merger and the team’s rebranding into OpTic Texas:
“I love Dallas, Seth loves Dallas, everyone in OpTic loves being in Texas. This is the best thing for OpTic. Period.”
The 2021 competitive season wasn’t rosy for the two teams and both of them sought to make some significant changes to their rosters. With their coming-together, a new lineup will emerge, consisting of the following members:
- Seth “scump” Abner
- Brandon “Dashy” Otell
- Anthony “Shotzzy” Cuevas-Castro
- Indervir “iLLeY” Dhaliwal
While this roster definitely seems promising, it is yet to be seen how it will fare in practice. Furthermore, the next competitive season will be played in the newest addition to the Call of Duty franchise, Call of Duty: Vanguard. A new title always implies some changes to a franchise’s competitive scene and OpTic Texas will have to readapt.
Despite all of this, OpTic Texas will most likely be a worthy competitor in the Call of Duty League.
From Enemies to Allies
Before merging, OpTic and Envy/Dallas Empire were known for their bitter rivalry. Their merger is both poetic and sort of sad as it will deprive the league of some of the best competitive moments the game has had.
The chief gaming officer of Envy, Mike “Hastr0” Rufail, spoke on that matter. He said that more than a decade of rivalry has led Envy to deeply respect their competitors from OpTic.
“We genuinely care about each other,” Rufail said, “We are going to be much stronger together than apart.”
The merger between the two esports organizations has effectively freed up one slot in the Call of Duty League. While OpTic Texas will keep one slot for its team, the remaining one will eventually be sold. Washington Justice’s ownership group, Washington Esports Ventures, was an alleged buyer but eventually gave up on acquiring the slot.
OpTic Texas will now have a few months to prepare for the next competitive season. Although not much has been revealed yet, it is likely that the next season will begin around February 2022.
