Why OpTic Gaming was the best esports organization in 2022

It’s a new year, but before turning the page on last year, let’s take one more look back on the esports organization that dominated 2022. In December, OpTic Gaming was named the 2022 Organization of the Year by The Esports Awards. It was a fitting win by OpTic, which also was the best last year according to Nerd Street’s own esports org rankings. Nerd Street’s rankings were updated monthly throughout 2022 and took into account the competitive success of esports teams across 10 different esports, placing a high priority on big international events.

OpTic had an excellent year in most of the games the org fielded teams. OpTic won prestigious international events in four of the six games Nerd Street tracked: VALORANT, Halo, Call of Duty and Overwatch. OpTic's teams also were pretty good in the other two games, Rocket League and Apex Legends. Here’s a look back on OpTic's accomplishments in 2022.

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Halo

Photo credit: 343 Industries

At the start of the season in late 2021, Cloud9 were the team to beat in Halo, but by the end of 2022, it was clear OpTic were the best team. The team finished second in the North America Regionals in February and third at the Kansas City Major in late April/early May. However, after that, it was nothing but first-place finishes for OpTic. The team won the Orlando Major without dropping a match and going 25-4 in maps across the tournament. OpTic had an even more dominating performance in the Halo World Championship as they went undefeated with a map record of 18-1 heading into the final. Cloud9 forced a bracket reset in the final, but OpTic won the second set 4-0 to become Halo champions. Matthew “FormaL” Piper, a champ in Call of Duty, became one of the few players who has won championships in multiple esports.

VALORANT

Photo credit: Riot Games

OpTic kicked off the year in VALORANT by winning Masters: Reykjavík, the first of three international events on the VALORANT Champions Tour 2022 schedule. The team qualified for Masters: Copenhagen and finished third, just a win short of reaching the final with a chance to defend their title. At Champions, the team made it back to the final with a chance to win their second title of the year and end the season as Champions. Of course, they faced LOUD, the same team they beat in the Masters: Reykjavík final and a team they had faced six times in 2022. This time they lost to LOUD and finished second at Champions. Despite not being North American champions in Stage 1 or Stage 2 of the season, OpTic always rose to the occasion on the international stage and finished top three across all three global events.

Overwatch

Photo credit: Activision Blizzard

When Envy merged with OpTic, the Overwatch League’s Dallas Fuel became part of the portfolio of teams under the OpTic Gaming umbrella. Like OpTic’s Halo team, the Fuel had a strong finish to their 2022 season. After finishing second at the Kickoff Clash tournament, Dallas won the Summer Showdown. In the Overwatch League playoffs, the team entered as the top team from the West and reached the final easily. In the final, the Dallas Fuel beat the San Francisco Shock 4-3 in a close seven-map series to become 2022 Overwatch League champions. It was the team’s first Overwatch championship in the league’s five-year history and denied the Shock their third title.

Call of Duty

Photo credit: Activision Blizzard

OpTic Texas kicked off 2022 by winning Major I, which they hosted in Arlington. OpTic didn’t win any of the other three Majors, but across the entirety of the Call of Duty League 2022 regular season, they finished second in points to Atlanta FaZe. At Champs, the team ended up finishing fourth.

Rocket League and Apex Legends

Photo credit: Psyonix

OpTic didn’t win any titles in Rocket League or Apex Legends in 2022, but the org had strong seasons in those games nonetheless. In Rocket League, OpTic qualified for the RLCS Spring Major and finished 7th-8th and qualified for the RLCS World Championship. In Apex, OpTic picked up the Esports Arena roster heading into the ALGS Split 2 Playoffs, the first international LAN tournament in Apex Legends since 2019. OpTic ended up finishing fourth out of the 40 teams. The team didn’t do as well at the ALGS Championship but still were among the 20 teams that reached the finals of the 40-team tournament.

Lead photo credit: 343 Industries