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OpTic Gaming and Envy Announce Merger and New OpTic Texas CDL Team
Butcher79
Reports of a merger between the two major Call of Duty centers have been circulating for some time in the months following the 2021 CDL season.
In August 2021, shortly after the climax of the Call of Duty League Championship, a story surfaced that Envy-owned Dallas Empire was in talks to merge with OpTic.
Along with that, the rumored new team to be hosted by the combined OpTic and Envy organization has been hotly debated by the competitive community and has now been finally confirmed with the OpTic Texas announcement finally arriving on Monday, November 8th.
Finally announced OpTic Texas
On November 8, OpTic Texas went official, and two of the oldest names in CoD esports merged with it. Hector "H3CZ" Rodriguez will henceforth be President of OpTic Gaming as they introduce OpTic Texas into the 2022 CDL season in Call of Duty: Vanguard.
Following the merger of the two main brands, the new lineup of OpTic Texas is as follows:
- Set 'Scump' Abner
- Brandon 'Dashi' Otell
- Anthony 'Shotzy' Cuevas-Castro
- Inderveer 'iLLeY' Dhaliwal
“We've been competing against each other since 2008 and I have deep respect for Hector and what he created,” said Envy founder Mike 'Hastr0' Rufail. “We genuinely care about each other. Together we will be much stronger than individually.”
What's going on with the Dallas Empire and Chicago CDL?
The Dallas Empire brand will be removed from the Call of Duty League competition, rebranded as OpTic Texas as part of the merger.
It also emerged that Envy and OpTic acquired the Chicago CDL in a merger, meaning they would have to find a suitable buyer for the slot they said had "real interest". This confirms NRG's departure from the CDL following the creation of the Chicago Huntsmen for the 2020 season.
It's unclear at this point what happens to the vacant CDL seat in Chicago, especially since a reported deal in Washington recently fell through.
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