OpTic Gaming

OpTic Gaming is an American eSports organization.

Halo 4
OpTic Gaming's first venture into Halo came at the 2012 MLG Fall Championship, where OpTic's Call of Duty team of NaDeSHoT, Scump , MerK , and Saint competed in the Halo 4 event. OpTic made it to Winners Round 3 before being taken out 2-1 by Rebellion. OpTic was ultimately knocked out in Losers Round 5 by Synergy Gaming, and finished in the top 64.

In November 2013, professional Halo player Flamesword was recruited as OpTic's Call of Duty coach. This eventually lead to Flamesword forming an OpTic Halo team with the intention of competing at RTX 2014. The roster was made up of Flamesword, Ace, iGotUrPistola, and Snip3down, with former pro player StrongSide as coach. OpTic did not end up attending a Halo 4 event, but the roster stuck together for the release of Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

Halo 2: Anniversary
The OpTic Halo squad attended their first Halo event at the ESL MCC Launch Invitational, where they took a 5th-6th placement out of 8 invited teams. Shortly after the Invitational, Pistola and Snipedown left OpTic to join Evil Geniuses. On November 23, Flamesword announced the first addition to the roster - Assault. On December 3, Flamesword announced the finalization of the roster on YouTube, confirming the addition of Aries to the main roster, as well as the addition of Enable as a sub and Elamite as the new coach, replacing StrongSide. At the first LAN event of HCS Season 1, Iron Games Columbus 2014, OpTic placed 3rd, defeating Cloud9 in a controversial series to eliminate them. At the second LAN event of the season, UGC St. Louis 2015, OpTic took 4th.

On January 10, OpTic announced that they were parting ways with Aries and picking up APG. APG's tenure on OpTic was short however, as he soon departed in favor of Noble Black, citing lack of practice due to Ace being sick as the catalyst. In response, OpTic picked up ContrA, who APG had replaced on Noble Black. With ContrA on board, OpTic took second place in the last two HCS Cups of the season. At the third LAN event of the season, Gamers For Giving 2015, OpTic defeated Cloud9 in a close 3-2 series in Winners Round 3. They then pulled off a big upset on the heavily favored Counter Logic Gaming in Round 4, sweeping them 3-0 and sending them to the Losers Bracket. On Sunday, OpTic faced off against Evil Geniuses and was swept 3-0 and knocked into the Losers Bracket, where they would once again face Counter Logic Gaming. CLG avenged their earlier loss, defeating OpTic 3-1 and ending their tournament with a 3rd place finish. OpTic Halo entered the HCS Season 1 Finals as the #4 seed. They faced off against season-long rivals Cloud9 in WB Round 1, and were defeated 3-2. OpTic's first LB match was against Noble Black, featuring APG and Aries. Despite rallying back to win game 3, OpTic was defeated 3-1 by Noble Black, ending their tournament and their season with a season-worst 7-8th placing.

OpTic's average LAN placing in HCS Season 1 was 4.38. Their total winnings amounted to $6,050.

Shortly after PAX East, Contra confirmed his departure from OpTic on Twitter. Days later, MaNiaC confirmed that he was leaving Noble Black to join OpTic. Despite a contract dispute with Noble, MaNiaC joining OpTic became official later that night. At Iron Games Atlanta 2015, OpTic came out strong, upsetting the #1 seeded Winterfox in 4 games. They were then defeated by Denial eSports in 3 games, sending them to the losers' bracket where they were defeated in 4 games by Cloud9. They lost 3-0 to Counter Logic Gaming in consolation, taking 6th place as a result.

OpTic had inconsistent results in the first half of the online cups for Season 2, starting off on a low note with a top 8 finish in Cup 1 before rebounding with two 4th place finishes in Cups 2 and 3. However, they would follow these up with a top 16 finish in Cup 4. After skipping Cup 5, they closed out the online cups with two top 8 finishes. At HCS Indianapolis, OpTic started off strong, defeating Vanquish Gaming 2-0 and Winterfox 3-2 before falling 3-2 in a very close Winners Semifinals series with Denial eSports. They were then defeated in their first LB match by Counter Logic Gaming. They defeated Cloud9 in consolation to finish 5th.

OpTic went into the HCS Season 2 Finals as the #6 seed. Their first opponents were Winterfox, a familiar opponent. This time however, Winterfox defeated OpTic for the first time at a tournament, 3-1, sending OpTic to the LB early. In the LB, OpTic defeated Team Liquid 3-2 in a very close series to stay alive. Their next opponents were Counter Logic Gaming, and in a series plagued by multiple disconnections, OpTic were defeated 3-1 and sent home with a top 6 finish.

OpTic's average placing in HCS Season 2 was 5.50. Their total winnings amounted to $10,600.

Halo 5: Guardians
OpTic was the only North American team invited to the Gamescom Invitational 2015 prerelease Halo 5 tournament. They lost to Supremacy in the first round, winning no prize money. Not long after the Gamescom tournament, Ace left OpTic to join Team Liquid. It wasn't until December 7 that OpTic would announce a replacement. Their new fourth was officially confirmed to be StelluR. After four online qualifiers with no placings higher than top 16, StelluR left OpTic to join Leftovers. OpTic was caught in the middle of a roster change frenzy leading up to the final qualifier. Assault left to join Triggers Pound, leaving Flamesword and MaNiaC to recruit Posey xR and FearItSelf to round out the roster. The team failed to acquire enough points to qualify in the final cup. Over the next two weeks, Flamesword and MaNiaC parted ways with Posey and FIS in a last ditch effort to qualify for NA Regionals through the Last Chance Qualifier. They eventually picked up LifeStyle and Chaser. They won the LCQ in dramatic fashion, with Flamesword's Twitch stream accumulating viewership higher than that of the official Halo stream. At NA Regionals, OpTic went 1-2 in their group, losing to Team Allegiance and Triggers Pound and beating Dream Team. Thus, they finished top 16 and did not qualify for Halo World Championship 2016.

On March 24, 2016, Flamesword posted a video confirming that Chaser and LifeStyle had been released from OpTic and that he and MaNiaC were the only members of OpTic's Halo team presently. On April 5, 2016, Naded announced on twitter that he joined the OpTic roster alongside Flamesword and MaNiaC. Five days later, the roster was finalized as OpTic confirmed the return of Ace. With the announcement of OpTic being invited to the HCS Pro League Invitational 2016, MaNiaC announced that Cloud will be coaching the team for the event. OpTic started off at PAX strong as they beat Enigma6 Group 3-1, defying the expectations of many in the community. After their series against E6, OpTic faced the tall task of defeating Evil Geniuses. EG dominated the series, winning the first map by a score of 100-18 before going up 21-0 in the Slayer game. EG would take the series by a score of 4-0. OpTic then faced elimination against organizational rivals Team EnVyUs. Despite a much closer series, score-wise, OpTic were still swept 4-0 and eliminated from the tournament with a 3rd place finish.

In the week following PAX, Flamesword announced his retirement from Halo competition, choosing to shift into a new role as OpTic's head coach. In Flamesword's absence, MaNiaC was named captain of the team. Later that night, OpTic announced the acquisition of Str8 SicK. The roster's first tournament together was an Online Invitational Qualifier, in which they earned an invite to the HCS Pro League Summer Qualifier 2016, upsetting the favored Renegades in the process. At the Qualifier, OpTic failed to make it out of their group, forcing them to play in the Last Chance Qualifier to compete for a spot in the Pro League. In the LCQ, OpTic finished 2nd, losing only to Team Liquid in their successful bid to earn a spot. On May 31, shortly after OpTic qualified, Naded made a forum post announcing that he was leaving the roster. leaving OpTic a player short with the Pro League kicking off in less than 48 hours. For the first two weeks of Pro League play, they brought in a returning APG as a sub. On June 13, OpTic announced the official acquisition of APG. OpTic's Pro League season was a rough one, finishing in 8th place with only two wins, not enough to qualify for Finals or the Fall Season. OpTic kept their spot in the season by finishing 2nd in the Relegation tournament.

Shortly following the conclusion of the season, OpTic released Str8 SicK. On the final day of the roster transfer period, OpTic settled on Heinz as the team's new fourth, confirmed in an article on ESL's website shortly after roster lock occurred for the Fall Season.

On September 14, OpTic announced in the new episode of Vision that they were releasing the Halo roster, keeping only MaNiaC as a content creator. The same day, it was revealed that OpTic had acquired the former Counter Logic Gaming roster of LethuL, SnakeBite, Royal2, Frosty, and coach Royal1. The ex-CLG roster was coming off of a streak of tournament wins, including the Summer Pro League Finals and the Halo World Championship 2016 having lost only one match in the entire HCS since January. OpTic came out to a rocky start in Week 1 of the season, losing 3-1 in their second match against Evil Geniuses, only the roster's second loss since January. They were again defeated in Week 3 by Team EnVyUs, a team many fans and analysts saw as having the potential to overcome OpTic as the #1 team in the world. OpTic attended HCS Orange County 2016 and came out strong, defeating EnVyUs 3-1 in the Pro Bracket to secure the 1st seed in the Championship Bracket. In the Championship Bracket, OpTic defeated EnVyUs twice more, resulting in a 10-2 overall map count over the course of the event en route to winning the roster's fourth straight event and first under the OpTic banner. OpTic ultimately finished the Fall Pro League season with a 11-3 record, good enough for 2nd place. At the Season Finals, things looked good for OpTic as they dismantled Team Liquid and took out Team EnVyUs 4-1 in the Winners Finals. In the Grand Finals, EnVyUs fought back with two straight victories to dethrone OpTic.

During the offseason, OpTic was one of two pro teams (the other being EnVyUs) to not make any roster changes. At the first event of Halo World Championship 2017 season - UGC St. Louis 2017, OpTic came out hot, sweeping their way through Primal and SetToDestroyX. In their third match, they won a close 3-2 series over Team Liquid and moved on to face Team EnVyUs in a Fall Finals rematch. OpTic came out in top in a close 3-2 victory. This time, EnVyUs wouldn't get a second chance, as they were eliminated by Team Liquid in the Losers Finals. In the Grand Finals, Liquid made a series out of it, taking OpTic all the way to seven games before being sent home in 2nd place. At ME Las Vegas 2017, OpTic came out as strong as ever, sweeping through ImPerium and Splyce to qualify for Halo World Championship 2017. As the tournament continued, they swept Str8 Rippin and defeated Team Liquid 4-2 in the Winners Finals. In the Grand Finals, they again met Liquid, who they decisively beat 4-1, solidifying themselves as the team to beat going into Worlds. At Worlds, OpTic were placed in Group A with TMMT Crowd Pleasers and Supremacy. OpTic dominated its pool, dropping only a single game to Supremacy. In the main bracket, OpTic swept FAB Games eSports and Luminosity Gaming to earn a spot in the Winners Finals, where they made short work of Team Liquid with a 4-1 victory. In the Grand Finals, they met a resurgent Team EnVyUs, who were just coming off of their first victory over the Liquid roster. OpTic made a statement, sweeping EnVyUs and solidifying themselves as a legendary Halo team with their second straight World Championship.

At the first event on the 2017 settings, UMG Daytona, OpTic won its pool with victories over Evil Geniuses and Luminosity Gaming. In the Championship Bracket, they swept Empowered and Evil Geniuses before winning a 3-2 series over Team Liquid. In the Winners Finals, they beat Team EnVyUs 4-2 in their first match on the new settings. Not done, EnVyUs came back through the Losers Bracket and won two straight game sevens to steal the event from OpTic's hands. The OpTic roster returned unchanged for the Summer 2017 Pro League season. They finished in first place with a record of 6-0, their only loss coming to Team Liquid in the final week of the season. OpTic came out hot at the DreamHack Atlanta Finals, sweeping EnVyUs in the third round. In the Winners Finals, OpTic were beaten 4-1 by Splyce, the second place team from the Pro League. After handily 4-0ing EnVyUs in the Losers Finals, OpTic had a chance at redemption against Splyce in the Grand Finals. Unable to even force a second series, OpTic were beaten 4-2 and had to settle for 2nd once again.

In the Fall 2017 season, OpTic finished in second with a record of 6-1, with their single loss coming against 1st place Team EnVyUs. OpTic came out strong early at the DreamHack Denver Finals, taking out Ronin Esports and Team Liquid with little resistance. In the Winners Finals, OpTic got revenge on Splyce with a 4-2 victory. In the Grand Finals, they were met by Team Liquid, coming off dominating performances against Splyce and Team EnVyUs. OpTic were able to reverse Liquid's momentum however, winning the series 4-1 and reclaiming their spot on top of the league.

Going into, OpTic, now the longest tenured Halo team of all time, predictably stuck together. They went into MLG Orlando as the second seed. For the first time ever, they were not only beaten in the Winners Semifinals, but in a 3-0 sweep by Team EnVyUs. OpTic steamrolled through the Elimination Bracket, sweeping Renegades and Team Reciprocity before taking out Team EnVyUs in a rematch to secure a top two finish. In the Grand Finals, OpTic's comeback was halted by Splyce, who took out the Green Wall 4-2.

On March 8, OpTic unexpectedly announced the release of its roster and the organization's withdrawal from Halo, making the defending back-to-back World Champions free agents going into the Regional Finals at MLG Columbus.