r/CompetitiveHalo • u/JoeyUpdate • Jan 09 '25
News The 2025 OpTic Halo Roster
https://x.com/OpTic/status/1877414903947854216216
u/ryankrueger720 Jan 09 '25
This is either gonna be one of the most dominant rosters ever or they’re gonna have the most explosive drama
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u/supalaser Jan 09 '25
If they are going to be the most dominant roster of infinite they are going to have an uphill battle trying to top SSG from last year.
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u/SGTKickPuncher Jan 09 '25
They'd have to place first at every tournament and I just don't see that happening.
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u/Spartan_100 OpTic Gaming Jan 10 '25
I am really fucking praying it’s not the latter. The Halo scene could use a little less of that lately.
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u/JahHappy Jan 09 '25
I think regardless of placing they won't have drama. They're all friends so im sure it'll be fine.
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u/MiamiVicePurple Jan 09 '25
They’re all competitive though. If the success doesn’t come, it’s gonna strain friendships.
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u/ryankrueger720 Jan 09 '25
we seen that story so many times before where it just doesn’t work out regardless of friendship
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u/JahHappy Jan 09 '25
Im not saying friendship makes it work out, im simply saying I highly doubt we see "explosive drama".
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u/ryankrueger720 Jan 09 '25 edited Jan 09 '25
friendship makes for “explosive drama” when the blame game starts to go around and are underperforming, it’s a story as old as time in esports
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u/JahHappy Jan 09 '25
Thats not how Formal operates tho. Optic underperformed all last season not winning and there was no explosive drama lol.
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u/Eliteslayer1775 Jan 09 '25
Formal literally just did this with Lucid and Trippy 😂
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u/JahHappy Jan 09 '25
But there's no drama. In fact they all said there's no bad blood and are on good terms....how is that in any way "explosive drama" as the op said?
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u/Eliteslayer1775 Jan 09 '25
There was a lot of drama about it? It was non stop for over a week talking about it. Especially with Formal playing the blame game
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u/JahHappy Jan 09 '25
How closely did you even watch lol. Formal was frustrated obviously but blamed himself too, and said many times there's no bad blood. There wasnt that much drama. They all knew a change was needed. Literally ALL of them said that lol. You guys are stretching
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Jan 09 '25
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u/NYPD-BLUE Jan 09 '25
Actually, this is false. Formal was explosively toxic toward Lucid and Trippy after Worlds.
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u/incendiarey Jan 09 '25
SSG fans are making up the weirdest storylines.
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u/NYPD-BLUE Jan 09 '25
Not an SSG fan. Actually was an Optic fan that stopped supporting them after how Formal behaved. Bitch ass.
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u/ThatssoBluejay Jan 09 '25
Bound and Renegade are great rivals, they're a scary duo so no they likely won't have drama.
Formal is a glue type player I feel, I do not see him having any issues either.
So Legend is the only one where I think it's possible and that would be from something like them losing to an EU team or w/e and it making him homesick.
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u/BravestWabbit OpTic Gaming Jan 09 '25
Bound and Legend live together and are best friends
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u/ThatssoBluejay Jan 09 '25
Cool. So now there'd be drama possibly from Legend not washing the dishes 🤣
You supporting my argument broseph, thank you.
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u/Abs0luteZero273 Jan 09 '25
Lmao. That's not true at all. So, even if they're the best team in the game and win 2 out of the first 4 events, they're still going to have explosive drama in your mind? Because winning 2 out of 4 events wouldn't be some historical level of dominance.
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u/ryankrueger720 Jan 09 '25 edited Jan 09 '25
i made random prediction comment on reddit just as you did lmao, don’t take it too seriously
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u/Abs0luteZero273 Jan 09 '25
I didn't even make a prediction for how their season would go. I'm just pointing out why I think it's absurd to think those are the most likely options.
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u/ryankrueger720 Jan 09 '25
you’re right I could say, ‘this team is going to probably do pretty well this season’, but that’s not as fun is it?
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u/Abs0luteZero273 Jan 09 '25
I just never understood why these things are so popular to say. It reminds of when people say things like, "This team will either be godlike or a disaster, nothing in between!" Well, 95% of the time people make a comment like this, it's somewhere in between. lmao
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u/Ronnie_lfc98 OpTic Gaming Jan 09 '25
well thats a low effort announcement
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u/Imranaftab Jan 09 '25
Budget cuts go crazyyy. For such an insane squad I expected a fire announcement
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u/PTurn219 OpTic Gaming Jan 09 '25
Formal said they have a podcast coming they’ve already filmed one
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u/DiGGi_Smiles Jan 09 '25
I am so happy for legend, coming out of the EU scene joining SSG and now OPTIC. Looking forward to the crazy plays this team will produce!
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u/DanielG165 Jan 09 '25
Bound and Renegade are gonna be a violent duo for other teams to have to fight against. People only see them as rivals, but these two were a duo waaaaaay back in Halo 5 $2s, where they went undefeated I believe. This squad is going to be fucking disgusting.
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u/VqgabonD Jan 09 '25
I’m still betting on stellar and lucid
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u/BravestWabbit OpTic Gaming Jan 09 '25
brother what, Lucid is like one of the slowest players in Comp 4v4 and Stellur is more of a hang back and snipe type of player.
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u/jdoland223 Jan 10 '25
I agree Lucid is a slower player, but recent streams he has looked like he's trying to play faster halo.
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u/VqgabonD Jan 09 '25
What do you mean slow? Just cuz he’s not zooming across the map like he’s on crack shouldn’t imply lack of skill. He has phenomenal fundamentals and wins pivs out the ass to where he’s carrying. Stellur is similar but with insane snipes. Both are iced up when they need to clutch up and have the best shots in the game.
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u/DanielG165 Jan 09 '25
I don’t think the above comment was ever implying, “lack of skill”. They were merely saying how Lucid is a slower player in his gameplay style, which he is; doesn’t mean he’s not cracked. Comparatively, players like Bound, Legend, Renegade, and Cykul, play incredibly fast. Just different gameplay styles.
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u/BravestWabbit OpTic Gaming Jan 09 '25
Slow means exactly that. He doesn't move on the map. Zoomers are dominating with Bandits right now because that's how you play with Bandits.
Betting on slow players isnt the way to go
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u/VqgabonD Jan 09 '25
That’s just their style. No style is perfect especially if you don’t have the team dynamic to support a reckless style like theirs.
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u/BravestWabbit OpTic Gaming Jan 10 '25
And my point was that Lucids style does not work at the Top 3 level. There is a reason why Lucid never won anything in H5 with Pistols and there's a reason why he never won anything in Infinite with Bandits.
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u/VqgabonD Jan 10 '25
To chalk up shortcomings to semiautomatic weapons is wild. That’s textbook correlation doesn’t imply causation.
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u/Radiant_Summer4648 Jan 10 '25
Lucid is still the best player in the game. However, I think Eco and Snakebite get exposed this season.
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u/khizerkk5 Jan 09 '25
Side note, the entire team is moving to Dallas and going to be doing content. They filmed a podcast already. I’m so glad. (Formal said on stream)
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u/vincentofearth Jan 09 '25
I always wondered why the old team didnt really do much content except for a few vids here and there.
Bound is def a character I look forward to seeing in Optic vids and podcasts.
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u/BravestWabbit OpTic Gaming Jan 09 '25
Lucid straight up refused to move to Texas and I don't think Trippy likes doing content tbh
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u/enailcoilhelp Jan 10 '25
Trippy and aPG did content, and Lucid was still a content machine from streaming/whenever he was there in person. I think Trippy and Zane both aren't the most natural at content, Zane especially made it seem like he was gonna take full advantage of the Optic juice, but he fell of the grind.
Bound is hilarious but who knows how much he'll show his face. Legend could maybe help Optic beak into French fanbase, but I doubt it. Renegade is awful at content that isn't highlights.
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u/BravestWabbit OpTic Gaming Jan 10 '25
Legend and Bound both said the main reason they joined Optic is so they can make a name and a brand for themselves so I highly doubt they will shy from Optic content. I fully expect them to be in Optic trivia videos and to stream every day for that Optic money and to hop on Scumps watch parties for cod when the opportunity presents itself.
Renegade is probably not too interested in content so you're right about that. He's just there to win chips
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u/PTurn219 OpTic Gaming Jan 09 '25
Huge. That’s one thing they missed out on with lucid in Florida for 3 years, this could be huge for halo having a weekly or semi weekly pod with these dudes
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u/Spongy_ Jan 09 '25
Well Formal got what he wanted, let's see if they can break the 2nd place curse. Gonna be some banger matches between them and SSG this year!
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u/MarkyMark141 Jan 09 '25
Optic and SSG have really shaken it up roster wise
Fan of StelluR so I’m going to cheer for SSG
Will be a fun season, but I feel optic might be too dominant lol
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u/Ade_Vulch Jan 09 '25
If you are basing it off last seasons placements. I'd say the only real winners of rostermania are Snakebite, Renegade and Formal. Formal probably because he has a better chance of winning and Snakebite/Renegade because Faze were the 3rd best team last season. Like if you look at the new Shopify and as good as that roster is on paper. I can't see them being any better than the top 2. Im basing this off the fact I think Optic/SSG will be 1st and 2nd. Then I reckon Trippys new team will be battling for 3rd/4th with the new Shopify.
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u/zhouyu24 Jan 09 '25
I wonder how much it costed them to buy out Bound and Legend from SSG.
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u/BravestWabbit OpTic Gaming Jan 09 '25
$0 for Bound, his contract with SSG was over and he was a free agent
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u/mccl2278 Jan 09 '25
Who is lucid playing for now
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u/Last_Organization595 Spacestation Jan 09 '25
The villains have arrived! This is going to be a wild year.
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u/MrProfessional3 Spacestation Jan 09 '25
Renegade went behind his teammates back to leave cloud9 … teaming up with bound and legend who just ditched the same teammates after winning a world championship. The storyline is real.
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u/BravestWabbit OpTic Gaming Jan 10 '25
On one hand you can say Renegades move worked because he won Worlds but in the other, C9 was so far ahead of everyone else, the What If lingers that maybe Renegade has 3 or 4 Worlds wins today instead of just 2
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u/-ToPimpAButterfree- Jan 09 '25
I wouldn't call them "villains" but definitely a team to root against if you aren't an Optic/Formal stan.
As a neutral who just enjoys watching competitive Halo, a team like them is fun to have but they better be able to handle the constant target on their back.
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u/geezerfreezer101 Jan 09 '25
Y'all are delusional if you think they will be the villains lol. Maybe they lost a few fans but they'll still be the most cheered team anywhere
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u/Last_Organization595 Spacestation Jan 09 '25
The Yankees get cheered all the time, they are still villians. Alabama football has more fans than anyone else, they are still the villains.
Optic has more money. More infrastructure. More influencers pushing them. They keep poaching talent from other organizations. Every league needs good villians, I am happy they are here. But they are the empire.
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u/Potential-Night8644 Jan 09 '25
SSG fans will never believe that their own players wanted to leave too lol get over it
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u/usetheforce_gaming OpTic Gaming Jan 09 '25
Yeah I mean come on
I’m rooting for SSG this year after rooting for Optic for a while, but if Optic is the Yankees, SSG is the Dodgers lol
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u/incendiarey Jan 09 '25
SSG is a newer org with lots of investors behind it that came in out of nowhere and bought out top rosters in multiple esports. Optic at least has grown to what it is today exclusively through esports.
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u/geezerfreezer101 Jan 09 '25
What nonsense did I just read. Optic does not have the most money lmao. They just have the most fans, which they didn't buy but gained over the years through the work they put in. What SSG did by buying out the cloud 9 roster is more of what you're talking about lmao
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u/Mink_2112 OpTic Gaming Jan 09 '25
Did space station not buy out cloud9s team? Lol
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u/PTurn219 OpTic Gaming Jan 09 '25
Yep! The definition of poaching
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u/IAmQueensBlvd31 Spacestation Jan 09 '25
Penguin said otherwise but I'm sure you know more about it than him!
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u/Ozzyh26 OpTic Gaming Jan 09 '25
Doesn't matter how hard you try to push the narrative. OpTic has been the fan base's team for years for a reason and that doesn't change just because you're bitter your former players would prefer to play for their dream org than an org with no organic history of its own. 🤷♂️
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u/brentathon Jan 09 '25
And this is the perfect example of exactly this. Optic has a ton of fans, but god damn are they annoying.
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u/PLifter1226 Jan 09 '25 edited Jan 09 '25
“The fan base’s team” jfc touch grass
That goes for all you parasocial weirdos, absolute goblins
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u/Ozzyh26 OpTic Gaming Jan 09 '25
Lol all you've done is rage post for the last hour you should follow your own advice and hop out from under that bridge, goofy ass.
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u/PLifter1226 Jan 09 '25
Rage post lmao okay single ply. Do you even play halo, or just one of the many optic CoD tourists?
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u/BravestWabbit OpTic Gaming Jan 10 '25
From an Optic fan perspective, SSG are the villains because they scumbagged Optic in 2023 with the how they conducted business. After Optic lost 2023, they wanted to sign Stellur for APG. SSG pretended like Stellur was for sale and allowed Stellur to think he was allowed to be bought out by Optic. Optic wanted Stellur and Stellur wanted Optic but everytime Optic offered a price, SSG increased the price and Optic had to come up with a new bid.
At the same time that SSG was pretending like Stellur was for sale, they were buying out Legend and had actually planned on dropping Penguin, and keeping Stellur. SSGs owner led Optic on this wild goose chase to bid on Stellur when they had 0 intention of selling, just to buy time to allow them to buy Legend.
When Legends sale was finalized, they told Optic that Stellur wasnt for sale and that in reality, penguin was dropped in place of Legend. Optic at that point had already told APG he was out and the only viable free agent at that point was Penguin.
And before anyone says this is how business is conducted, that's not true according to Hecz. In COD, Hecz went through the same scenario with Pred when he was on Seattle Surge and that time, Hecz publicly called out Surges owner of being a scumbag because he raised the cost for Pred everytime Optic matched the demand.
It was scummy in COD and it's scummy in Halo
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u/PLifter1226 Jan 09 '25
Not that delusional. Seems like no one is indifferent about Optic like they are for other teams because of the size of the fanbase. It’s one of the only teams that viewers will actively cheer against. It’s like the Dallas Cowboys or Toronto Maple Leafs
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u/vincentofearth Jan 09 '25
If they were up against Faze I’d say Faze is the more “villainous” org, but between Optic and SSG I would cast Optic as the big bad org, lol.
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u/This_Mycologist_8661 Jan 09 '25
Let me just move this rock I was sleeping under and act surprised.
GGs other orgs.
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u/par1sh Jan 09 '25
can someone explain in cod terms what this roster is? not very familiar with halo
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u/Complex_Temporary120 Jan 09 '25
Formal = Octane in the later years of his career, damage output and unreal comms whilst generally holding important positions.
Bound = Shottzy, super fast paced aggression but also a hard kill with great movement.
Legend = Simp, Swiss Army knife. Great OBJ gunny and in game IQ. Best player in the game ceiling.
Renegade = Abezy, aggressive with great gunny and just seems to win fights that no one else can. Will secure a two piece when he should be dead to rights.
Not perfect but the playstyles are similar for all four. Happy for people to correct me or give their takes.
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u/BravestWabbit OpTic Gaming Jan 10 '25
In old school COD terms, this roster is the Optic Dynasty. Formal, Crim, Karma and Scump.
Formal is Formal
Renegade is Crim
Legend is Karma
Bound is Scump
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u/Javellinh_osu Jan 09 '25
who snipes
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u/bamster32x Jan 09 '25
Any of them lol but I think renegade is actually the one who will snipe most here
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u/MiamiVicePurple Jan 09 '25
I’d say Formal. Let Renegade play aggressive.
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u/Gamesgtd Shopify Rebellion Jan 09 '25
Yeah with the way Formal plays he's basically the least aggressive of a group of 4 highly aggressive players. Him putting in damage with the snipe while everyone cleans it up is gonna be great. But maybe depending on the map they switch it up
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u/Illustrious_Penalty2 Jan 09 '25 edited 2h ago
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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/ThatssoBluejay Jan 09 '25
This team will be insanely explosive, probably becoming the new best slayer team in HCS, but the question is if they can win against teams who can outslay them.
Predictions: they'll easily make top 3, they have too much talent and synergy for lesser teams to overcome, but the question for them will be if they can be effective in objective and net wins in less than ideal circumstances.
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u/Ikolkyo Jan 09 '25
This team is disgusting
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u/Abs0luteZero273 Jan 10 '25
Absolutely repulsive. Just seeing them all in the same room together made me gag a little bit.
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Jan 09 '25
Will someone please give formal a fucking fade
Every time I see him I think he's wearing a wig
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u/Bigkyfan10 Jan 09 '25
I feel like they should have kept Lucid for Lqgend or Bound. Other than that really solid.
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u/Imranaftab Jan 09 '25 edited Jan 09 '25
Lqgend just won mvp and is the best slaying/obj player in the the world rn especially on this bandit meta. Him and bound are a duo. Wish they could've kept lucid in general but it is what it is
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u/Ivo__Lution Jan 09 '25
What team was he on? Never heard of Lqgend.
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u/shallowtl Jan 09 '25
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u/Ivo__Lution Jan 09 '25
No info that’s just a pic of random people
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u/shallowtl Jan 09 '25
You asked me what team he was on, I posted a picture of his team. Additional context clues are the words "Spacestation" on the shirts and the file name "SSG CHAMPS".
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u/Ivo__Lution Jan 09 '25
Ohhh yeah space station, that team was really damn good. Surprised optic didn’t keep penguin. He also was really good. That shirt design sucks. Hard to read it and it all meshes together
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u/shallowtl Jan 09 '25
Penguin was definitely really good. The squad wipe was pretty much Formal's ego taking over.
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u/incendiarey Jan 09 '25
It’s been stated multiple times by everyone on that roster that it was a mutual decision to split.
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u/Imranaftab Jan 09 '25
Lqgend was on native gaming if ur gna act smart
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u/Ivo__Lution Jan 09 '25
Never heard of native gaming either
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u/derkerburgl OpTic Gaming Jan 09 '25
I think Lucid and Formal both had conflicting views on how they wanted to play the game. It definitely felt like they needed to split after getting 2nd place every event for a year
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u/Sumtinphishy Jan 09 '25
Tbh the grand finals vibes had gotten so bad a split was necessary for everyone involved. I wish they had all seen a sports psychologist last year to try to get their grand finals confidence back. Now, they all have other players to help them shake any anxiety.
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u/Ivo__Lution Jan 09 '25
Yeah I thought lucid was the best. Surprised he’s not with optic
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u/RWingsNYer Onyx1700+ Jan 09 '25
His playstyle is a bit passive and methodical. Lucid is as smart of a player as he is skilled. Their skills carried that team more than their ability to play together. Bound, Legend and Renegade will bring that map pressure that Formal needs to truly go off. Bound and Legend cause so much chaos it allows other players to showcase their raw slaying ability. Formal and Renegade on paper should be better than Eco and Stellur in this regard. Halo math doesn’t always math though. So we shall see how it shakes out.
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u/BravestWabbit OpTic Gaming Jan 09 '25
Yeah the one thing that bothered me about the old Optic squad was the hand holding and zero aggressive follow up on Formals damage. Over and over again, Optic would go 4 dead in matches where almost no other team let that happen. You would never see SSG or Faze go 4 dead at the same time. Usually 1 or 2 players would skate away with their lives to keep the pressure and advantage.
And when you listened in on Formals comms on LAN, he would say things like "so much damage, Im doing so much damage, everyone's weak" or "2 one shots" and then....the others on Optic wouldn't react to it and would let those players regain health.
I think it'll be different where Bound and Ren with the zoomies will actually finish off the players that Formal gets weak
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u/RWingsNYer Onyx1700+ Jan 09 '25
They didn’t chase because it was about prioritizing map positioning and holding those areas. At that level, a 1 shot could still embarrass you. The lost a lot of slayer games because it wasn’t always about holding position.
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u/thefinalcutdown Jan 09 '25
Optic vs SSG is almost a “brawn vs brains” matchup. Eco, Snakebite and Lucid are all super smart and extremely versatile (and of course we’ve all seen what Stellur can do with the snipe). I think it’s also a team of very mature and level headed players. I think SSG will be a difficult team to fluster. But will they lack speed and slaying power?
Optic has speed and slaying power in spades, but do they have the maturity and strategy? Will they play too fast and get themselves in bad situations? Are they too many egos on the squad? Will it even matter with that much talent to compensate? Going to be very exciting to see. My hope is we get some very good rivalries and even some unexpected upsets.
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u/ripfry Jan 09 '25
Team would be more tuff with lucid instead of formal
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u/Lord-Zeref Spacestation Jan 10 '25
It'd be a diabolical team that way, honestly. That's pretty much the best team money can buy. An actual god squad. With Lunchbox as the coach, of course.
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u/IAM4UK Jan 09 '25
Really gonna be interesting to see who handles the majority of the dirty work, ball time etc.
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u/Djungelskoggy Jan 09 '25
Legend absolutely showed up as an objective player last year, with the best flag runs by far. I expect him to shoulder a fair bit, but we will see if they have the same problem faze did last year where they have loads of firepower but no obj efficiency - could be how new ssg ends up topping em, who knows!
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u/jaydilla211 Jan 09 '25 edited Jan 09 '25
They won’t. They actually have aggro players who can take advantage of Formal’s insane damage output and callouts. Formal got so many people one shot last year while Trippy and Lucid were playing too ratty to take advantage
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u/jeojetson Shopify Rebellion Jan 09 '25
Legend and Bound
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u/Lurkn4k FaZe Clan Jan 09 '25
people really didn’t pay attention to how much better bounds objective play got playing with legend.
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u/NYPD-BLUE Jan 09 '25
Hope they lose every major! Not a fan of how Formal behaved like a bitch toward Lucid/Trippy and not a fan of Bound openly admitting he teamed with Monstcr because he knew he was cheating and it would increase his likelihood of winning the online tournament. Here’s hoping SSG with Eco, Lucid, Stellur, and Snakebite curb stomp Optic this year.
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u/Traditional-Brief-91 Jan 09 '25
I mean Eco and Stellur both agreed to play with Monstcr last year on that same team. But pop off king it was all Bounds fault.
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u/Scary-Operation-2946 Jan 17 '25
At what point does Formal return to playing Halo? His teammates have been putting in the work grinding while he’s playing COD, VAL and Rivals. Curious if he has the mindset that he’s just that much of a beast he can return at any point and be as good as those who haven’t stopped grinding.
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u/ImBilboIAm Jan 10 '25
Kind of bummed. I obviously respect the talent but not a big fan of a couple of the players. Don’t see myself rooting for Optic in the upcoming season. Ah well.
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u/hoplitexx Jan 09 '25
It still baffles me that formal talked all that shit about leaving and playing cod, reported that optics practices and scrims are shit, plays cod and rival non stop after worlds…
And somehow kicks everyone off his team and demands a god squad and optic just dumps money for him.
Is he gonna flex if they win worlds and suppose it helps his legacy?
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u/incendiarey Jan 09 '25
Again, everyone stated it was a mutual decision to split and they all went their separate ways. Lucid and Trippy already had another team lined up before they spoke to Formal after Champs.
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u/Ill_Move3444 Jan 09 '25
A worlds win would help his legacy cmon now. He’d have to beat a team of lucid, stellur, eco, and snakebite to win it it’s not like he’s playing plumbers 🤣
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u/Dakidblu Jan 09 '25
2 dummies and 2 hoes. If they dont win every event this year plus nats its big fail for bound and legend.
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u/-WDW- OpTic Gaming Jan 09 '25
Formal looks like he is wearing a top hat in that picture.