As reports regarding VCT 2023 partnered teams begin to trickle out, one team that VALORANT fans are waiting to hear about is OpTic Gaming, the consensus top team out of North America and one of the world’s best in 2022.
But as shocking as it may be to hear, there’s a possibility that the team doesn’t stay together and/or doesn’t acquire a partnership spot in the VCT Americas league next year—and a recent Instagram post from OpTic’s in-game leader Pujan “FNS” Mehta hints at that possibility.
“I don’t know how next year will shape up or if we’ll be together but to me, this is the best lineup in VALORANT history without a doubt and it was a genuine pleasure playing along side my brothers,” reads a portion of the caption. In the post, FNS thanks OpTic fans and his teammates for a landmark year that saw the team lift a Masters trophy and finish in the top three in all three international VCT events.
The post was made as reports have begun to surface about who the partnered participants will be in the Americas league for VCT 2023. The trio of Sentinels, NRG, and Cloud9 have secured partnerships with Riot and will take three of the 10 Americas league partner spots next year, according to reports by Dot Esports.
Outside of the slew of vague hints and bait posts seen on Twitter from the VALORANT pro community, there have been some concerns about OpTic’s status next year as a partnered team or as a complete roster. In an interview with Washington Post reporter Mikhail Klimentov at Champions 2022, OpTic superstar Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker said the team “may end up splitting up” if the organization isn’t partnered and if “buyouts [don’t] work out.” Yay said in the same interview that he hopes to be with the same guys moving forward.
OpTic has fielded the same roster since August 2021 and since switching the team’s branding from Envy to OpTic following the merger between the two organizations.
