Immortals Gaming Club (IGC) was awarded a spot in the city-based Call of Duty league Monday, but the makeup of the roster for the franchise league is uncertain following critical comments by prominent OpTic Gaming figures.
IGC bought out Infinite Esports last month, including the OpTic brand. At the time, Peter Levin, a part of Immortals' board of directors, said, "We are excited to work with our partners at Activision Blizzard to ensure that OpTic continues to play that leading role in Call of Duty's future."
And with Monday's announcement, the Optic Gaming Twitter handle posted, "We will be the Los Angeles franchise in CDL 2020. #OGLA #GREENWALL."
However, Hector "H3CZ" Rodriguez, who is credited with building OG and the "Greenwall" into one of the most recognized brands in CoD, later tweeted on his personal account, "That aint us."
H3CZ was reportedly part of a bid to acquire OpTic from Infinite that ultimately lost out to IGC. His future with the OpTic brand was uncertain as Immortals won the bid to acquire the brand.
OpTic player Ian "Crimsix" Porter also took to Twitter, posting a meme of three people wearing "Average Joe's" jerseys and writing, "I've had enough of this, I hope you guys packed the 'other jerseys'" and tagging OpTic captain Seth Abner, coach Tyler "TeePee" Polchow and fellow players Damon "Karma" Barlow, Brandon "Dashy" Otell and Thomas "TJHaLy" Haly.
"Back to the Midwest where Ian is pronounced I-an here," Crimsix commented. "These mother (expletive) lmao"
Meanwhile, Abner responded to the Optic tweet with a GIF of LeBron James looking up with a stare of disbelief.
The reaction has raised questions about whether H3CZ will part with OpTic and form his own Call of Duty roster with OG players.
"By participating in the city-based model, we recognize the opportunity that the new Call of Duty esports league creates for us to tap into two existing sources of affinity: regional or city-based pride, and affinity for Call of Duty itself," Immortals CEO Ari Segal said in a statement Monday. "Call of Duty League also allows us to scale the relationships we've been fortunate to build with both Activision Blizzard Esports leadership and senior management into a new and largely distinct market segment."
--Field Level Media