Armchair GM: What OpTic Texas needs for the 2024 Call of Duty League season

In Armchair GM, I take on the role of General Manager for a number of the Call of Duty League franchises to discuss the moves I would make in the offseason. In this part, I take a look at OpTic Texas, and what I would do during the free agency period if I was running that team.

OpTic are the biggest team in Call of Duty esports, and it’s not close. They command the biggest viewership, have a fanbase unlike many others in esports, and despite a rough run of results in recent years, refuse to settle for any less than excellence.

Following the Modern Warfare II season, though, the team finds itself in dire straits. After initial success with newest recruits Daniel ‘Ghosty’ Rothe and Cuyler ‘Huke’ Garland, including back-to-back second-place finishes at Majors 3 and 4, the team failed to move the needle and dropped off between Major 5 and Champs.

While they started to fall off at the tail end of the season, there was clearly a lot of potential in the team to do better than they did, but there were one or two missing pieces. Here’s what I would change to fix it, ignoring the reports of OpTic speaking with Envoy and Drazah.

Who would I keep on OpTic Texas?

This isn’t the easiest question to answer, as there are several routes for OpTic to take, many of which could prove successful.

Personally, I would look to keep three players on this roster: Brandon ‘Dashy’ Otell, Anthony ‘Shotzzy’ Cuevas-Castro, and Ghosty. They definitely did enough to impress this season and the talent is enough to help push them on to Sundays.

Huke had somewhat of a career resurgence under the OpTic banner, but the team is capable of finding a more consistent SMG that can put up big numbers while better contributing to the win.

However, depending on the players that are available, it’s well worth looking at other assault rifle options too for both Ghosty and Dashy.

Who would I bring in?

The first target is the most obvious one, a name they’ve been linked with all season long: Seattle Surge’s Amer ‘Pred’ Zulbeari. Outside of MVP winner and runner-up Paco ‘HyDra’ Rusiewiez and Tyler ‘aBeZy’ Pharris, he has consistently been the standout SMG over the last two years.

With Pred being such a hot commodity though, it’s not guaranteed to be possible to get him, so looking at alternatives, I like the look of Dylan ‘Envoy’ Hannon, an unrestricted free agent this offseason. This would be barring the possibility of bringing one of aBeZy or Chris ‘Simp’ Lehr over to complement Shotzzy.

Things get more complicated, though, with Dashy also being an unrestricted free agent. I would make it a priority to re-sign him, but if not, I would immediately turn to another UFA in LA Thieves’ Sam ‘Octane’ Larew, a veteran AR who has both the ability and leadership qualities to lift any team.

For me, Ghosty is only worth considering moving on if you’re somehow able to recruit a generational talent like Thomas ‘Scrappy’ Ernst or McArthur ‘Cellium’ Jovel to fill the flex role. Ghosty brought some much-needed leadership to the team in 2023 and was a huge reason for their good performances, and as a GM, that should be recognized.

So, here’s the team I would aim to go into the 2024 season with if I was OpTic Texas GM:

• Dashy
• Shotzzy
• Ghosty
• Pred

Very much a team that fans have long been expecting to see, and nothing majorly shocking as far as what people would want. However, for me the kicker would be with Dashy — if results continue to struggle, having been dropped twice last season, OpTic would have to seriously consider moving for someone like Octane or Attach, a veteran AR that can really help tighten up their gameplay.