After ending the Black Ops 6 season in plain style, successful each the Name of Responsibility League Championship and the Esports World Cup, OpTic Texas have kicked off their 2026 BO7 marketing campaign in a similar way. They ran by their opponents and barely dropped a map within the Monster Gaming Launch Invitational.
Following the announcement of the CDL 2026 roadmap, the COD League revealed that Monster Gaming would host a $75,000 invitational event for all 12 skilled groups, in addition to 4 prime Challenger groups, offering newbie gamers with the chance to show their abilities in opposition to one of the best on the earth.
Upset Potential at BO7 Launch Invitational
With the event solely coming every week after Black Ops 7 launched, there was an opportunity for some actual upsets from the groups that practiced probably the most in week one and realized the sport the quickest.
And, whereas there have been some upsets, the inevitable occurred when OpTic stormed by each single opponent, proper as much as the grand last, the place they beat the “Orgless” group, which is reported to be the Mild Mates roster for the upcoming season.
OpTic Didn’t Drop a Map Till Grand Remaining
Very like at CDL Champs 2025, OpTic didn’t drop a single map all through the event till the grand last.
They gained 3-0 in opposition to Stallions, the group owned by former professional participant Thomas “ZooMaa” Paparatto, to open the event, earlier than occurring to win 3-0 in opposition to Carolina Royal Ravens, FaZe Vegas, and Orgless within the double elimination bracket.
They faltered within the grand last, which went to a Recreation 7 after some sturdy performs from the Orgless gamers, however no performs have been extra spectacular than what Anthony “Shotzzy” Cuevas-Castro pulled off within the opening map of the ultimate.
Sure, that could be a Halo Ninja — from a Halo and COD world champion — in Name of Responsibility, in 2025.
Whereas the grand last was a little bit extra dicey than OpTic’s followers and gamers might need favored, it was maybe probably the most fascinating method to cap off what was an unbelievable weekend-long efficiency from all 4 gamers.
Main 1 qualifiers formally begin on Friday, December 5, and that’s when the actual motion kicks off. Proper now, it appears to be like as if OpTic Texas are, by far, the group to beat – and each group is just enjoying catch-up proper now.
