OpTic Gaming’s CS:GO team has disbanded

OpTic Gaming’s CS:GO team broke up today after in-game leader and veteran Mathias “MSL” Lauridsen benched himself from the starting lineup.

OpTic’s form has dwindled recently. Earlier this month, the team finished top 12 at DreamHack Masters Malmö 2019, losing to mousesports. Since their victory at DreamHack Summer in June, they’ve only shown signs of their previous form rather than emulating it. 

Yesterday, OpTic’s star player Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke said that “I hope that we can get some closure on this contract situation in the near future because this isn’t helping us perform,” in regards to the situation. This has led to the team being disbanded.

MSL cited the recent contract issues between OpTic and the team as one of the main reasons why he benched himself. “When I joined OpTic, the plan was to build a strong team and buy out strong players, but because of OpTic getting sold, that changed and we have constantly been in a position where we couldn’t build a proper team,” MSL said. 

MSL is referring to Immortals Gaming Club’s (IGC) acquisition of OpTic’s parent company Infinite Esports and Entertainment in June. Since IGC owns MIBR, another CS:GO team, IGC needed to remove the OpTic roster due to Valve’s rules regarding conflict of interest. But since the roster has disbanded, this will no longer be an issue.

At time of writing, it’s unclear whether OpTic will purchase another CS:GO roster. But considering the rules regarding conflict of interest, this seems unlikely.