OpTic Podcast - MEET OpTic MERCULES | The OpTic Podcast Ep. 224

Episode Date: May 8, 2025

Check out Mercules here: https://www.twitch.tv/tbemerc https://x.com/Tbemercules This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp — go to http://betterhelp.com/optic to get 10% off your first month. Go to http://factormeals.com/optic50off and use code optic50off to get 50% off and free shipping on your first box. OpTic and the Call of Duty Endowment are teaming up for Military Appreciation Night on May 14th in Arlington! ⚾ Join us as we honor our veterans and celebrate their service, all while enjoying a night of baseball and gaming. It’s a special moment for both the military and gaming communities. OpTic Gaming Merch: https://shop.opticgaming.com/ Check out the OpTic SCUF collection and use code “OpTic” for a discount: https://scuf.co/OpTic Check out the OpTic Podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/optic-podcast/id1542810047 https://open.spotify.com/show/25iPKftrl0akOZKqS0wHQG MEET OpTic MERCULES | The OpTic Podcast Ep. 214 00:00 Welcome Mercules to OpTic 09:30 Mercules on Challengers 15:00 What controller does Mercules use 25:00 Scump 1v1 vs Tenz 28:00 Mercules telling his parents 31:00 Coming in to the CDL Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You feel like Advanced Warfare was like your your best game? No, not my best, but favorite. Do you think you were gun on me? Yeah. I like that. I had like a 50 and O one of the one team. Ladies and gentlemen, I want to welcome you to episode 100 and 224. 224 of the Optic Podcast, brought to you by Better Help and Factor.

USAA is also sponsoring this podcast and we'll tell you a little bit more about them later on in the video. But for now, we want to want to. welcome the man the kid mr. Merculees welcome kid welcome how do you feel you may get that mic closer to you a little bit and then how's it feel how's the last 48 hours been for you um it's been insane for sure uh I didn't miss in my flight in the morning the first flight I ever missed my whole life wait why though was there a reason or were you just nerdy no I showed up at 530 and the flight was at because my airport's like really small so I usually get through security in like five minutes

and then there was no one at the desk. So the desk leaves 45 minutes before now, but I've always done that. What airport do you fly out of? Evansville. It's like a regional. It's a regional airport. Oh, yeah. See, I fly out of Harrisburg.

It's probably the same shit. It has like three gates. Yeah. So I saw I'm in there like five minutes, but there's no one at the desk. Harrisburg has an airport? Capital Pennsylvania, brother. It's not big, but there's one there. I don't know.

It's like six gates. They got an Annie Ann's in there. They got all the essentials. That's all you need at the airport. That's right. How close are you to like where the Pacer's place? like the downtown area. Are you like...

I'm southern Indiana. I'm like three hours away. Okay. Oh my God. Are you near Gary? No. No? No.

No, Gary's way north. Yeah, that's not like Andy. Why, how's wrong with Gary? Gary is scary. Gary is scary. Gary's Borders, Illinois, right? Gary's scary. They get down in Gary?

Gary's like right outside of the side of the armpit of Illinois? But yeah. Yeah, I think so. Good to have you here, man. Are you excited? Yeah, I'm excited for sure. You were frying at the event. We were all gassing you up a lot.

You look good. I mean, how was it, I mean, just talking about, like, Toronto, how was it, like, slotting in to that team? Because it seemed like it was, like, kind of natural. You were playing Hill a lot. Yeah, no, honestly, it was a good team to slot in for. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, that was probably one of the better teams I could have slotted in for. It was, the hard points were, like, super easy, to be honest. Yeah. But the search is, obviously, like, I'm good at search, but I feel like search is, like, chem mode. We just didn't have any chem. Yeah. We didn't even get to scram, honestly, until.

I played, it's so crazy, I played him and ranked like probably a month, two months ago. It was a vault. I played him in ranked. They were all like, yo, that's Merck. And I was like, okay. And we played, and now he's on optic. You put his ass down. Who won?

I mean, we won, because we had a three-star. We had a four-stack. I was tired of this kid to win. You said he was solo. We had a four-stack. It was me, I think it was me, App, Jerry, and probably Sam. Okay, yeah, that's a stack. Yeah, and he's playing with, like, three randoms.

But he was shooting, you were shooting. So did anybody know? Like, obviously, I think you were playing at a Challenger's Cup yesterday or the day before yesterday. Wait, really? So you were, I mean, you were to stay in the course. You were playing challengers and now here you are. He took a late flight in. Now you're on the couch.

Did any of your teammates know? Or was it simply just push-hush? I'm keeping my fucking mouth shut about any conversations going on. Yeah, no one knew until last night. I mean, our coach knew because I think Rafi talked to him, but they're not, no. I told Bairn found out last night. Byron! Yo, Byron.

Byron will tell, though. That's my dog right there. Prolu. Byron's hilarious. Byron is a moron, bro. We played Fais. When he filled in front of us in Vanguard, he dropped a 1.4. He was walking around.

You call me 1.4 now. I was like, bro, this guy's a moron. I love Byron. How long you've been playing, Todd? Like, give us a bit of a story. And I have a follow-up question to that question. A story of you, because obviously, I mean, we all saw you kind of like, you hit the scene. I think challengers, people were talking about you,

and obviously in that scene you were known, but then you get announced you play for Toronto at the event, you go insane, and then everyone's talking about you. What was it like before that? Like, how did you get involved? How long you've been playing, Call Duty? Well, my older brother, he's like three years older than me. He used to have a console, so, like, I hopped on.

I used to play when I was like five. Five? Like Cod Four. Cod four? Yeah, the best ever. You see that shit right there? Well, you're 21, right? You were five when Cod Four was out?

Four or five. What year were you born? 2004. 2003, but I might have been playing in like the year after. 2005 is when it came out. I feel like that's a pretty common story because I have an older brother too. It's like he has the console. You take the console.

You're just way better than him. I was literally hopping on the stakes of like five. And you claim that shit? No. No, I didn't play with it. Yeah. What kind of TV were you playing on? I just got to know.

Flash green? Yeah. Because when I was growing up, we still had like the big ass like tube TVs? Yeah. That thing had to have been like 300 pounds. Those were the pounds. So, so heavy. There was no input delay.

Old school setup photos. But there was always someone with a console. Like you always knew someone with a console. Either your neighbor, your brother, your cousin. That's how I got started. My neighbor had a console, and that was my introduction to the multiplayer. So you started playing cod when you were very young. How about, like, competitive COD?

Competitive was AW. AW. I started playing for money. Well, I guess GBs played in B-O-2. Like, wagers and stuff, AWD. Is it true that Did you ever play us in like GBs or anything Like on a different tagger?

No No but you did You did play against Shotsie and somebody else They said that they were taking your money and shit Oh yeah They were rob me I'm not gonna lie I mean they did rob me I'm not gonna laugh

No I got one v2 5 5 last month No they were nasty though Like him ander like that little squad They were a good little hit squad That was a nasty duo You played XEO? Or the 2s 2s

Was it twos? Yeah twos Damn Yeah I played them twice for 500 at 1v2 at 5-5 last map both times. Yeah? Both fucking chose.

That's tough. But it's kind of tough timing because all of this shit's been going around about like nobody's getting a shot from challengers and now boom. Yeah, I mean, he's on optic. There was a lot of talk about because obviously the whole world thinks

you're not coming here. Everyone was like, how does this kid go to the event, plays top three, and not get an opportunity. But correct me if I'm wrong, you turned down a different offer? Yeah. So you had a CDL offer that you turned down. And then also, I believe,

Ultra gave you the option to be a bench player? Yeah, yeah, they did too. Okay, so you had opportunities before this one came about. So it wasn't like no one was knocking at the door. You kind of have to weigh your options and see who's going to qualify for champs, the whole nine yards.

So it's not like you went out there and no one hit your line. I just want to clear that up. Page texted me this morning. I was in the shower and she's like, yo, Merck's going to be there. And I was like, what the fuck? She's like, yeah, I forget what else did she say? We try to mitigate the risk of leaks around here so that we can do the appropriate introduction into this team.

So it's hush, hush from top to bottom, only the people that need to know, no, and obviously we can control the outside. Yeah, she said, hopefully playing with Mason and announcing him later today. So welcome, man. Oh, yeah. Thank you. It's going to happen quick, man. What would you change? Wait, just real quick.

We got our own Mason now, because I play with Symphony a lot. Now we got our own Mace. Beer and Nose is way more normal. You know what I'm saying? You don't have to burst Caliph on your head. No, I love that guy. I was in his chat earlier. He was saying, all got canceled last night.

I was so tight. Well, it's fucking raining. Oh, yeah. Well, he also, he wants to go to a Stars game. He was saying, yo, let's go to a Stars game. And I said, I'm down. You don't got to tell me twice. I'm down to go to the Stars.

Uh, not. Not really. What's your favorite sport? Football. Who's your team? Colts. The Indiana Colts. I grew up with Quentin Nelson.

He went to my school, middle school, and then he went to Red Bank and went to a different high school. And my dad loves him. He's from my hometown. Well, I was playing with fucking Lennon for a net yesterday. Yeah? Playoff Lenny. Bro, he came in and dropped 120 gifted the other day.

I was like, damn, one. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he's going great. He dropped 50, 50 gifted in my, my chat. Linking my shit. As soon as he went live, I went in there and gave it right back to him. Did you? Yeah. You're a better man than me. I would say thank you. No, and I was a, it was a good time. I want to, I want to, well, first of all, obviously welcome. You're coming into a, a very storied team.

That aside, we haven't been having the best season. We, we haven't, not just not having the best season, but none of the changes that we've made have put us in a position to make everyone comfortable. And by everyone, I mean the organization, the fans, and everyone. So I'm looking forward to see if you can continue to replicate what you did for Ultra. Obviously, you're super talented. So I'm hoping that you have a long story career here, man.

I'm looking forward to seeing that. I was, you know, last time we picked up somebody from Challenger's was this dude named Dan Ghostie who plays out of this fucking spot back here. And you see where he sat now, right? I have high hopes for the rest of the season. And by no means do I not see a big opportunity for us to make some noise with you. So I want to personally welcome you. And I now want to ask you about challengers, man.

Obviously, it's been a hot topic about what is missing, what is needed. In your opinion coming fresh out of that. and obviously making it out of challengers into the pros. What, if you have anything, do you think is needed to improve the scene right now? I just feel like more like post about the matches, like anything, to be honest. I feel like the matches, like they hardly get any viewers on YouTube, to be honest. So I don't know. There's more like publicity around like when they're starting.

Last year we were like watching challengers. We were watching the elites and shit. But like now I was just looking into challengers and like trying to find when the elite. elite schedule even was and like it was like hard as fuck to find it was like there's just no there's no like you said there's just no backing behind it there's no promotion behind it i mean hold shift does a great job over there and jay they're casting it all the time but oh yeah no there's just like no it feels like right now there's no like clear path to pro and that's like a big problem because obviously i mean if you're a kid nowadays zini always says i go play for

because I can't even see Zinny's eyes because of your fucking scooter. Yeah, I'm like looking at the fucking bar. These mics, I can't see my man Merck's face. I can see you just fine. I'm a good sight. But for Call of Duty to Grow, obviously the plant needs to be watered and the plant being challengers, I mean, all the new talent coming up that's, if it's not being showcased correctly, it's like, what's the point?

And Tom's been going off lately about the Challenger's scrim schedule. I'm down to go off. They're roasted each other. because they're cooking each other that they got jobs and shit. Well, Tom's completely correct, by the way. Oh, yeah, no, 100%. Here's the thing about the way people view challengers

as compared to when we view challengers. There's a lot of entitlement now. Nameless was saying it on Twitter, the challengers players right now are playing for more money in challengers than we were when we were pros. Of course. So the money's there, but it's looked at as like, oh, I should be pro or it's like a career path,

whereas it should be like a dream in the sense where it's like, you need to look out for yourself, in the way of whether that's education or getting a job. Players that do have school or a job shouldn't be penalized for doing that. They should be able to scrim at night just like we would when we went to high school or whatever

and then come home and play and obviously chase their dream that way. And then you have like two or three teams that might get pro scrims. Those guys, okay, if you want to scrim early, you guys should scrim later as well. But it comes down to the 12-team league. I think the difference now compared to back then

is you can make it as a team. Like I forget the team name, There was a guy named Believe on it back in like I-W. I believe? It wasn't I-believe. It was a different one? It was... Oh, B-U-L-I-E-V?

I forget their name. Surely not believed. But they used to make it through open bracket and come play and pool play pretty much every event. You don't have that anymore. Like, you can't make it as a team. You're kind of hoping to get hand plucked

and placed into a pro roster, whereas in the prior format, you could grime with your team, be a good team, and then go play the pros and prove yourself that way. There's no relegation system, there's, it's just so hard to actually prove yourself on the grand stage because

you can't even make the grand stage anymore. I mean, you don't have like those stories anymore. Like, remember back in IW, like gunless and them, E United? Like they were all amateurs and then they come to the event and they start like placing super high and they're, it's like a full amateur team and then all of those guys get like obviously after that selected and they go to like better teams. They climb the ladder and get better teammates and stuff. Not saying they weren't teammates but like they you know they tried to get on bigger orgs and stuff like that yeah nowadays it's just tough man I didn't yeah just because I was like we were playing elite finals and there's like a thousand viewers really I mean yeah I was

like I thought there should be more for like elite finals yeah no even though it is challengers but I mean that's like the best of the best of look at college look at college football right college football March Madden is is a multi-billion dollar industry within that little segment of the entirety of the NCAA right because it is the up-and-comers and it it is the people that are going to join the NBA. Right now we don't have that with challengers, which is a shame. And everyone's saying go play college codly, get an education while you're playing.

That's what I think. He's a hell of teams. That's what I think is the best. Yeah, it was at ESA. Really? Yeah, it was at ESA. Yeah, and I think that that stream, they had like a crazy amount of viewers. I mean, yeah, everybody's back in their schools.

There was like 15,000. Yeah, that's awesome. If I remember, yeah. Roll Todd, you're playing for Alabama? I don't know if Alabama has a team, but that'd be fine. That's Riley's? Yeah, roll time, man. Red state?

Penn State. Hopefully they got a team. I'm gonna, I'm gonna go and donate my time and some effort to the Harper Junior College in Palatine, Illinois. I went there for one semester, my alma mater. Oh no, I got to graduate to call it that, right? No, you still went there. That counts. Did you ever go to school or just high school?

Yeah, no, just high school. Just high school? Did you have a job before this? Well, when I first started competing, I didn't, but before that, yeah. I used to work at Toyota. Toyota? Okay, you're selling cars? No, no, like line, like line.

Not like a salesman. Like putting parts on cars. Oh shit, like a actual mechanic. No, no, it's just like line work. It's like it's repetitive. Oh, okay. So you're like, put bolt in, put bolt that, yeah, yeah. Putting what?

Bolts? Yeah, stuff like that. Yeah, it's more than I know. Shit. If I looked at a car, I would know. It was pretty hands. I've never touched a wrench in their life. Look at them.

My deformed hands after playing claw for all these years. Do you play claw? No, no, I play default. I play default everything. That's why people are like, yeah. Do you use a... No. That's how I grew up play.

That's how I play. So you're like scraps. Remember scraps used to play no paddles, fucking... So you're taking... You play no paddles. You're taking your thumb off, thumb stick, right? If I can jump, I can do both with my thumb. But like, if I got a slide, then I'll use my...

Sometimes I'll use my index. It just depends. Like, if I'm just sliding around the map, I'll take my thumb off, but if I'm like slide child on a gunfight, I'll slide with my thumb index. I need a hand cam. I need to put a... In some instances? In some instances, yeah. I like that. Not really. Okay. Yeah, his, his brain is so in tune with his hands that it, they, the hands do whatever the fuck they want, they need to do it in a very specific moment. You say you need a hand cam, see what the hell is going on? Yeah, because in wage, I'm like, yeah. Because nowadays it's either claw or paddles, it's like, you never hear about default players not playing claw or paddles. That is kind of, that is kind of great. Paddle since 2013, back when using a scuff was considered like, like, this guy's an asshole. He's scuff jumping me.

Yeah, scuff jumping. That's back when people used it against you. And now it's just, you need that bad boy. I remember Merck. Joey D. Yeah, Joey DeLuca and Big Timor. And big time where he used to be like, scuff saves so many careers. Yeah.

It saved some hands for sure. It definitely saved some hands. Do you use PS4 or PS5? PS5. PS5? PS5? See, I just don't like the sticks, bro They're so like, they're so

I don't even know how to describe it There's less tension on them than the PS4 I just feel like it's so much tighter You used the PS4 still? Yeah. You know that they don't make those no more Yeah, I told Ryan You better have a hundred of them for me

Yeah, yeah, for the rest of your life Yeah, but I think that firmware and hardware like don't connect anymore The same way that these fucking phones have the... I think Ant was on stream last night I think he's trying to use a PS5 controller Yeah, he was like trying to like break it in and stuff And he said it felt crazy

Because the polling rate is so much better on PS5 than PS4. So there's probably like, you can overclock into like the input, input delay. Yeah. You can like,

yeah, you can overclock it to 8,000 on the PS4s. I've heard people say that it's not good to overclock. I mean, I do it to 8,000, but I don't know.

Like you don't even have to for PS5? Yeah. It's just plug and play. They say like 4Ks better. See, that's, no.

That's what I miss about console. You just plug and play. Everyone's on the same shit. They're on red dot. Grip. Yeah. Throw on by two attachments and I'm good to go.

Nowadays is, Holy shit, Warzone. I have eight attachments on. I'm seeing different builds come out the woodworks. I don't know what's going on. Where did the name Mercury's come from? Honestly, it just used to be Merck and then I just changed it. I don't know.

I was like Hercules and then Mercury. Yeah, I was going to ask. Hercules, Hercules. Mercury. It's actually weird. I watched Hercules a couple nights ago. Did you really? Now Mercury.

Wait, Hercules? The movie? Yeah, the animated one from way back? Bro, he watches such random movies. On your account? On Disney Plus. Oh, okay. Yeah, dude, you're good.

Don't worry. I see another cartoon on my shit. Just a little background. Hector has an Apple TV account. Okay, let me ask you a question, because this is always blown my mind. Let's say you want to watch a movie, right? And it's not out for free yet, so you've got to rent it or buy it. It's like rent for $5 or buy it for $20.

Are you renting it or buying it? Renting. You're renting it, right? He buys every movie. They share an account. So they have this catalog of movies on movies. Thousand plus. And it'll never make sense to me.

I'm like, why don't you just rent it? Because you're not going to watch it four times in the same month. You're going to watch it once and maybe in a year you'll watch it. And by then it's going to be on Netflix or Disney Plus or... It depends a difference. So five years down the line, you've watched it five times now. Like imagine Dodgeball. No, but what I'm saying is...

I'm watching that shit. I live four times. But what I'm saying is after you rent it once or Talladega Night, listen. Listen. It's going to say, dodge, boss. Listen. So obviously the new toy under the tree costs more. So you rent it once.

Then you watch it a year later. By then, odds are it's going to be on a platform you already pay for like Netflix or Hulu or Disney Plus. Then you didn't have to, you know what I'm saying? You could have saved. You're thinking too hard into it. No, I'm not, man. You guys just have a catalog. I don't want to put the password in anymore.

I just fucking bang. What I, what I'll say to the, that is that if I open up today's Tuesday, so new movies come out, if I go on there, it's going to say buy for 25 bucks or rent for 1999. Oh, yeah, like when a new movie comes out? If it's older movies, they're going to be cheaper.

I just buy it, though. Okay, but it's 20 versus 25, that's different. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can't wait for sinners to come out. I haven't seen you? No, it's only in theaters. I've been waiting for it to come out on digital stock and watch. You're waiting for it to come out on home theater. Hell yeah. I see that. Kate just got me an AMC gift card.

for Easter so I can, because I've been wanting to go see sinners. But apparently now, Thunderbolts is apparently really good. And they're saying it's like the best Marvel movie since like end game. I saw Nameless tweet out it was good. It's the most endgamey vibe and apparently it's pretty good. And then the accountant too, I still need to go see my parents.

We still haven't seen the accountant too. My parents said it was awesome. And I just, I love Berndthal love Afflex. I'm sure it's greatest. I like both of them. Bernthal sometimes I don't know. I mean, I think John Murthal is one of the most underrated actors. I will say the more I see him as the Punisher, like there are certain people that I can't undo as a character. Like Harry Potter.

Like there are certain people that I can only see one way. Like The Rock to me is The Rock. Like The Rock can't go play a detective. He can't go play. What? You've seen the other guys? Great movie. The Rock to me is The Rock.

And John Berthal is a tiny bit getting there as the Punisher for me just because I love the Punisher. Yo, Merck. Favorite movie? Go. Category action. Honestly, I don't watch that much movies. Really? Are you a show guy or do you not like watch much?

You're just gaming? I don't watch much. Yeah? You an anime guy? You just shoot? Yeah? What's your favorite anime? That was paradise?

I just finished solo level yesterday. Bro, Matt keeps fucking, he's been like heavy on that. It is really good. I've watched Death Note. That's it? Yeah, I watched Death Note. That's all right. but I'm just not like an anime guy,

which makes no sense because I love animation. You do. But I just, for some reason I just can't get over, like, the dubbing. I don't like shows that are dubbed, because, like, the dialogue is just weird. I'm a sub guy.

You know what I'm saying? I have to watch it subbed. I'm not reading. I'm not watching it in Japanese and then reading that shit. I watch it in English. That's too much. I watched it in English. It was good.

Watch it in English. Because I got ADHD out the wazzo. Apparently Solo is very good dubbed, like compared to others, but I just don't like, I like watching the... the original language with subtitles because they changed the dialogue like they changed certain conversations and i just i was like i want to watch the original product yeah yeah i mean i

i did i mean obviously initial d and all the old school once i watched that but i heard solo was like really good that's like totally soul level of them's good you can attack on titan uh like half of it really i just finishing it or night i don't really like i don't really like good what i mean attack on titan's like one of the best stories i've ever seen in my life yeah it was it was that good and People have that and like, I think on IMDB, I could be wrong. It's like, it has like some top 10 episodes of all time. Solo leveling beat all of them. All right, I might have to give it a shot.

So the thing is, that's like a solo watch. Is it ain't sitting there watching that? Dude, she'll like it. We've been watching Handmaid's Tale, which is fire, but she ain't watching it. Yeah, Kate won't watch anime with me. Yeah, no. As soon as I put on anime, she's like on her phone, like, this is not for me. You make her sit there and just watch it?

She'll go into bed and watch TV or... That doesn't happen in our household. No? No. Yeah, I'm like, listen, I'm watching this episode. Like, I can't throw something on that she don't give a fuck about. Like, we got to both care about it. Oh, dude.

Actually, besides sports. She's like, do we have to have hockey on? I'm like, yes, it's game seven. Yes, we do. Close. Jude and I haven't watched a show together in fucking decades. No? No.

Damn. That's what we do. That's why we have more than one TV. Yeah, that's fair. Well, you guys have crazy schedules. Like, you go to bed, like, CEO time. And she was telling me, oh, yeah, sometimes I'm up to like four in the morning. I'm just like, what?

Yeah, she's a fucking, she's on Japan time at all times. She's on Tokyo time at all time. See, that's what I like. I like the hours from like 12 a.m. to like 2 or 3 a.m. when it's just me awake. I can watch whatever I want. I can scroll my phone. That's like my Zen time.

Is that that right there? See, Merck, I'm telling you, take it for me. Enjoy your youth, man, because I'm asleep at 11 p.m. on the couch now. I'm like this. Fucking out. 11 p.m. every night we were watching. maids last night she looked over Sethi are you watching? I'm like

no I just streamed 10 hours my brain is fucking fried I am asleep I was playing with Zinn yesterday and Fatty we're playing some chowse what I love Fatty yeah dude yeah Fattie's the man what y'all Hector Hector

Let me get some Pine Park it was like the first five minutes of them talking he's asking Hector for Pine Park he said this is what we should do you and me we go to the gym together and we do this, I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I say, yeah, Fetty, are you crying? Relax. You know, I don't know why, but Merck's giving me, like, heavy Dill and envoy vibes, you know,

just like the way he, like, his mannerisms and the way he talks or the way he chills. I see Envoy. I'm getting heavy deal vibes, and I love that. Dill's one of my boys. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Optic and the Call of Duty Endowment are teaming up for the military appreciation night on May 14th in Arlington. Join us as we honor our veterans and help celebrate their service, all while enjoying a night of

baseball and gaming. It's a special moment for both the military and the gaming communities. Plus, check out what the Call of Duty endowment designed for the game. It's a U-2s. U-2's collaboration with the Texas Rangers, Call the Duty Endowment, and, of course, Call the Duty Endowment. I mean, it's Ghost. Literally Ghost, U-2s.

I'm going to put it on my shelf. I'm taking this home. So come check it out. May 14th in Arlington. This episode is brought to you by, better help. Mental health awareness is growing, but there is still progress to be made. 26% of Americans who participated in a recent survey say that they have avoided seeking mental health support due to fear of judgment. Well, what I say to that is if you want to be judged

for taking care of yourself, I mean, nobody judges you for going to the gym. Nobody judges you for eating healthy unless you're obnoxious about it. So you shouldn't be judged and you shouldn't worry about being judged for taking care of your mental health either. Also, when you hesitate to help yourself, you're not just affecting your own mental health. You're affecting the people around you. Your families, your workplace, the community around you. I mean, everyone could be benefited by improving your own mental well-being. BetterHelp is a great place for therapy. It's a great place to talk to someone about all aspects of life and it's very convenient as well. BetterHelp has over 10 years of experience

matching people with the right therapist from their diverse network of more than 30,000 licensed therapists with a wide range of specialties. You hop on BetterHelp, you fill out a survey, they pick the therapist that best suits your needs, and if you

don't vibe with the therapist, if you don't think you're getting the help that you need, you can switch therapists at any time. BetterHelp is fully online making therapy affordable and convenience serving over 5 million people worldwide. We're all better with help.

Visit betterhelp.com slash optic to get 10% off your first month. That's better help, help.com slash optic. This episode is also brought to you by Factor. Do you like food? Do you like convenience? Seems like pretty easy things to like. Well, Factor is, should be your game plan. That's the end goal.

Get outside instead of prepping and cooking indoors. Factor meals arrive fresh and ready to eat perfect for any active lifestyle. Make it your best season yet with nutritious two-minute meals from Factor. Eating well has never been this easy. You just heat it up and enjoy giving you more time for what you want to do. Factor powers your day with satisfying breakfasts, on-the-go lunches and premium dinners, and also guilt-free snacks and desserts. It's easy to savor more this spring.

Factor meals pack in the flavor with none of the fuss. Lately, I've been really enjoying the roasted garlic chicken. I'm a sucker for chicken and also the green beans that comes with it. You pop it in and it's ready. I mean, it's just great. It's just, it's gourmet chicken at the touch of a button. Get started today at FactorMeals.com slash Optic 50 off and use code Optic 50 off to get 50 off to get 50% off plus. free shipping on your first box.

That's code Optic50 off at factor meals.com slash optic 50 off for 50% off plus free shipping. That's how confident we are. 50% off your first box. But like towards the end of the last match

the gummy that I had eaten an hour before sort of started. A special gummy? Oh yeah. And I was all of a sudden I was like this I'm like I'm like I'm not streaming but he's streaming my webcam so I'm like oh shit. Yeah, that's my last match. You start forgetting if you're on offense or defense and shit.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, who has the bomb? I have the bomb. We'd play wagers. Me and him in Cold War. He'd forget if we were on offense. I planned to the bomb on defense. I did.

He's just fried. I was fried. 100% just fried. When I have no shame, I am not ashamed of that. I am not ashamed to that at all. Scump versus Tense CS1V1. I saw some of these highlights, man. You're still, you're kind of gun.

I mean, it's impressive because. Tens, legendary. legendary not talking shit or taking anything away from that dude but he is a keyboard and mouse user and he plays val yeah but like like tens is a fucking beast but I can kill him like that's what everyone's like you're going against tens and I'm like yeah and I'm chalin yeah I was like if I'm on a 1v1 verse tens I'm challing because you got to play confident against a player like that you got to play confident well you look like you're you're made of ice right

here just cold-blooded no audio needed. I was like, I knew it was him right here too. But people don't know. I played CS a lot, like back in the day. Salamander Man strikes again. Were you playing on a scump or salamander man? They had me a skump in the thing just because they changed my name, but I'm usually

floppy penguin as you can see my little avatar up there. I'm usually the floppy penguin. Well, you guys play league this week, right? Yeah, I'm going to get slamed. That's going to be an interesting one. Yeah, we play league. I'm playing against like Tyler 1. League of Legends?

Yeah, I think I'm top lane, so I'm against Tyler 1. You do have double-lift. If you just listen to what he says, I've never played league, so I'm not sure how, like, I'm sure it's so hard. Well, they were on stream yesterday saying, I have the most important role. And I'm like, why the fuck are y'all giving me the most important role? I don't play league, bro. Give that to double lift. Well, no, he, I think he's 80 carry.

He's playing his lane. Actually, they might have taken me off top because I think, I think Summit's playing top. I might be playing, like, jungle. I might be juggling. You have any other games you like playing besides Cod? Like, any... I play 2K, like, with my boys sometimes. 2K?

But no keyboard mouse, no Valer, no... In the offseason, I play, though. A little bit of Val. Yeah? What rank were you? Well, that was my first keyboard mouse game, and I only had it for like five months. I was a send-to-one. Okay.

You were ascended and you're... Wait, how long did you play for? Like six months. Oh, okay, I was going to say. It's not that hard to translate to mouse. You just got to, like, commit to. I was in silver. Like, my shot was awful.

Your game sentence and shit was good? Like, you get freebies around the map, like, just holding to... holding your cross hair like he crosses into it. That was the most annoying part about learning keyboard mouse playing vowel was like I had the mind to where I know what I want to do and where they're going to be but I just couldn't actually execute and it was so infuriating to not have that. It only takes like a couple hours for your brain to recalibrate to have those commands go into your into your.

No, that's not true. Listen, it is true. Battalion 1944 I literally fucking dominated within the first day. But that wasn't that much of a movement game like playing cod or Apex on mouse and key is a completely different world than playing like a attack shooter or like league where you have to actually be doing a lot on your keyboard as well and that shit's hard. Like you got to have reps.

Do you know who you guys scrim today? No, I have no clue. He don't give them a fuck. What did your parents say? Well, they're actually on vacation. Okay. They're on vacation. Where they at?

I think Florida. Okay. It's a good spot. My mom has a condo in Florida we go to in Clearwater every once in a while. Shit's nice. They're always traveling. Damn, so they were on vacation. Are they big travelers?

Good for them. That's what I want to do. I can't wait to one day get to that point where I can go see the world. Right now, money's talking, and I need to make it while I can. Strike while the iron is hot, my boy. You have to. There's no other way. You never know how long it's going to last.

That's right. Strike while you can. That's right. But, so your parents are on vacation, you're joining Optic. I mean, I called them. They have to be, they have to be mind-blown in a certain way, because it's one thing. If they know about Optic or college. Yeah, well, they don't know too much.

They don't know too much. When I first went to that event, my dad, like, made a Twitter and... Stay off Twitter, pops. Please. No, that's awesome. They're responding to everything. Yeah? No, no, they can't.

They can. That's good, though. I mean, it's good. He's supporting and stuff. but my dad likes every single one of my tweets my mom's on Twitter yeah my mom's on like every single one he'll let's go start spam liking he'll like 15 in a day and then he'll he'll randomly he'll randomly tweet someone and he'll be like he'll tweet like Nate shot and be like hey it's Zinn's father and then he'll say something it's like dude you're out of your mind

you're actually so what do they say when you say I might I might have to be moving actually yeah they're like my mom is kind of sad but mom is kind of sad and then She was like, we're gonna come visit. Is this your first time moving out? Oh, okay, yeah. Wait. First time I'm moving. Yeah, yeah, you're good.

You're good. Maybe you're doing good. It's not reprimandion. They were on vacation like yesterday when you flew out. Yeah. That's good though, because you missed the tears. Because when I first left home, of course, my mom's crying. I'm like, you can't fucking cry in front of me.

I hate goodbyes. I don't want to, I can't see my mom cry. So I think you got a little bit lucky right there. Yeah, dude. Because you missed the waterworks. Yeah, I called it. called early last night.

And there's nothing. She was crying on the phone when I hung up the... I mean, listen, man, this is... It's understandable, man. You're flying the coup. I mean, this is the best situation

you could find yourself in. Let me tell you. I mean, I played for Optic once in 2018, and that was not my first team. I was throwing around like a rag doll. To come into the pro league and go to an event

and play as a filling and then come play officially for Optic, it's an awesome opportunity. to do, man. I'm happy to do. Yeah, in terms of, like, your mindset coming into it. Like, obviously you're coming into Optic. Like, are you nervous at all, or are you, like...

Honestly, no. No? Because at that event, like, first match, I was, like, he kind of nervous, but... Then you came into it? Like, that's the thing. I feel like every match I played, I was just like... We didn't play against them, right? No.

We didn't make it that far. Unfortunately. But, like, once the... That's the thing. Like, in Cod, I feel like it's like this in probably a lot of other esports. It's like, you get those butterflies before the match, but right when you get that first kill or first death, everything goes away and you're just like in it.

Yeah, honestly, every, like, as a tournament went on, I just got more confident with every match we played. Yeah, you looked at too. I mean, so you were playing in Hill a lot. Was that like something that Toronto told you to do, or was that just kind of how it naturally is just kind of how it went. Is that how you think it'll be here too? Honestly, maybe, yeah, because I mean, I like playing around the objective a lot, so.

Okay. So, yeah, because I'm just thinking. Are you like a faster AR? Like, who's playing flex? Is Bruce on flex? Are you on flex? I'm on flex, I think. I should be on flex.

I mean, I can do both, but I'd rather be flex, probably. Okay. I mean, that jackal, it's fun to pull out. Yeah, yeah, that shit is right. What do you think is better? Unbiasedly, the AMES or the jackal? A.R. It's way better.

Cap. I told you. It's true. I told you. That is such cat. The AMES is godlike. Propaganda. But especially on this last patch, too.

Yeah, with the jackal nerves? Yeah. I feel that. Yeah, you guys, oh, I guess this week you are on the new patch, right? I think, or the, you guys know if you're still playing the old patch with the new patch on the CDL accounts? I think the pros switch on Tuesday. Oh, okay, so today, yeah, yeah. And they change the control spawns.

Oh, yeah, I heard they're bad. Yeah, they're pretty bad. I heard the vault ones are brutal. Yeah, vault, you just like perma spawn back P4. Yeah? Oh, God. So offense is about to be insane then. Yeah.

Like, if you put, if you get one wave and they're in your art, you're just done. If you stack B, they can't even make it there. Really? Yeah. Oh, hell no. So you think Vault's going to get Vito a lot now? Yeah, that are Hossi. They changed Hossi too, right?

Yeah, they change it. Protocol is the one that's, like, had the least changes, I'd say. But on Hossi did not need to change. On Hossi offense, you basically spawn, like, well every time, unless someone's, like, pushed out. That makes getting B so much easier then. Yeah. People just, like, cut dark. It's over and over?

Yeah. Dark's top you, right? call it like top of you yeah here's the real question people want to know are you down to play with meal team six that's nice oh yeah you know i love meal team six hell yeah hell yeah he's already that boy's it making sure i like it i like it um you plan on streaming a lot yeah do you stream already uh yeah yeah yeah i should yeah i stream uh my internet was like really bad like started it started it started like a month ago and my stream just kept cutting out but i had my friend like opt-a customized by internet.

So, Comcast? Spectrum, cable. Yup, that's what I had in Cali. The worst. That's the Zoom is going through. I think like 40 to my own host is awful. Yeah, the worst. I had techs come out 20 times

and they literally couldn't figure out the problem. They couldn't, I was losing my fucking mind. Yeah, that's the worst. The worst is when a tech comes out and they tell you everything's good to go and they leave and then the same problem persists and you gotta go through the whole process again, phone call sending a new tech out it's like it's actually the worst well it's actually not like where

we're at now where and where we were fucking almost two decades ago you know because call 32 call 34 even i would say modern warfare too didn't have like the best internet like uh when did fiber start to come out like in black ops too not that i'm i mean even black ops too it was like such it was so like area to area like if you didn't live in like texas yeah where it's just popping with fiber it's like Tri State have Fios and Fios was

what everybody hated to play against TJ Halley's name was Fios you know that shit was Godlike Yeah so I mean it's it's only on the up and up next thing you know we're gonna be playing on Wi-Fi that is just as powerful

as what we're connected now China just released 10G right Matt You're gonna like AT&T It's consistent all the time It's fiber It's nice I can't wait to play I never have internet issues

Like very rarely do I ever have like a problem with internet. Have you met your teammates yet? Never spoken to them? I mean, I've spoken to him a little bit. I used to play with them back in B-O-4, like Money-Aids and stuff. Okay. Who are you most excited to play with? Ant. Yeah, Ant's a good teammate. Are you like a vocal teammate? Are you kind of like...

Yeah, no, I'm vocal, but I'm just like really monotone. Like, I don't know. A lot of people who said that... That's why I felt like I fit in with Toronto kind of good. Yeah, their comms are so, like, calm and shit. Are you gonna like, do you think it's gonna, do you think you're gonna like up your comms a little bit with Yeah, I'm gonna try. Yeah, I'm gonna try, I appreciate. Yeah, you have a fun group. You have a trolley group too. Like, you have a fun in-game and out-a-game team where you guys can be there. And Kyler's so fucking vibe-y. I team with him very briefly, but he's so vibey, bro. He's always going hard. You're gonna like it, bro. Hopefully you guys put on. I'm excited to watch you guys play. You got two matches this weekend you play. Boston Friday. Carolina. Carolina Saturday? No way. You versus Tej.

You got to take them out. So those are pretty good matches. There are good matches, good matchup. Yeah, it's going to be fun to watch, man. I'm excited. Two-match weekend. We only played once last week. Three-oed Vancouver, which looked good.

But... We three-o the Coopers, but listen, I know that there's going to be, obviously, questions about the reasons as to where we're doing things. We've talked internally, and ultimately it was my decision to, to do this, to make this change. But the players immediately agree. The coach and staff immediately agreed with it. And, you know, obviously, Cesar is not just a fucking super dude.

Love to have them around and all that stuff. That's my guy. I, you know, we do have a responsibility to the logo, to make sure that we always put it in its best optimal position. We consulted with Zinni, consulted with scum, consulted with everyone. That's not true. well I was true you didn't consult with me

I consulted with Zinie then you just told me it was like maybe happening that's all that's it well I'm trying to give you as much what do you call that separation from the issue so that you can actually sit there and say it's not me so you can honestly say this was not me

they all think I'm the GM yeah no it is uh it had to have been a whirlwind of uh of opportunity for you because like I said right like everybody was like Pick up Merck, pick up, pick up, pick up Merck, pick up Merck. Pick up. And you got a, and man, how do I describe it?

It's like, think about the amount of shit that had to happen in order for you to be sitting where you're sitting right now. You know what I'm saying? Like what happened to us last year, post champs happened. Us picking up our boy hook happened, dropping them, picking up predigan, dropping him, dropping him, dropping him, dropping him, picking up. this guy, letting go of this guy. Like the amount of shit that happened for you to be sitting on this couch is insane. So I, and I hope it's the right amount of pressure for you to do what you've already been doing. And you take the challenge head on, which I think that you can and will.

Just on, just on your confidence alone with your gameplay, I think that you're going to, you're going to do just fine, man. I'm looking forward to it. I am. You just tell them to ruin for you, bro. You got us. Always room for you, man. You'll never feel love. like the love of the green wall

that I can guarantee that is true wait until you step on that stage in Dallas oh there's nothing like it brother dream has incredible you miss it huh you miss it yeah of course I miss getting on stage but I don't miss scrimming every day and losing fuck that you know I thought the Toronto

or the Venom it too I thought that crowd was crazy but which one my teammates were like that was probably like that was the worst crap oh Jesse way yeah he was like I mean that was probably We weren't there. We weren't there, so we can't speak on it, but the crowd didn't look like huge. I thought it was insane.

So I was like, if I thought this was insane. Just wait, bro. It's going to be fire. You're going to love it. You're going to get so much dope. Oh, my God. You're going to get so much. Probably the dopest dope you've ever smoked.

We have Dreamack Dallas coming May 23rd and the 25th. It's the first time the optic and Halo. I'm sorry, Optic Halo and College Duty have played on the same venue in the same time in close to, wait, that's the first time ever. Imagine? That is the first time ever because of energy. Shootie. Oh my God, double champy?

No pressure, though. No, yeah, all the pressure. He's got it, man. No, the pressure. To think about that, though, it would be fine. Pressure on the HALO team. I like that. He's got the confidence of youth behind him.

You remember what that was like? Hell yeah. Now I'm holding shit. I'm double-thinking gunfights. I'm like, can I chow this shit? So, can I, can I chow this like I used to? No, I think, I mean, the way you played at your first major, like when it, I mean, you, you went out there and did your thing. You played top three as a villain.

I think your next event will come even more, even more natural. And even so, like, I know a lot of people say there's pressure playing for optic, but when you get on that stage, I don't think you're going to feel pressure at all. I think it's going to be bliss. Like, just the confidence that you're going to get from hearing that crowd roof for you, and as soon as that first map starts, I mean, you just played out in an event. You know, as soon as that map starts, you don't have time to think about anything else. You're in there. The confidence that you displayed already in the last match, man, like it's commendable. But the difference is when you get a two-piece, you're going to know you got a two-piece now.

You can shoot them in the back. Dad. Yeah. You can get a free piece, two piece. They're going to know when they were watching your POV. You could get a two piece, three piece, four piece, Lakeison Five. Yeah, we saw how that went. Yeah, they got Lakers and Five got...

Dude, playoff sports are crazy right now. What is? Playoff sports in general. Oh, yeah, yeah. Obviously, me and Seth went to game seven. We bounced on the watch party earlier. Shout out to you, Damon and JP, by the way, for holding it down. And chat was awesome, of course.

They were like, dude, you guys have to go to game seven. Luckily, it was after the optic match. Yeah. Because we would have left an optic match, of course, never. No, we've never been. But game seven, we went to the Game Seven Stars game. And they were down-nuts. They were down 2-0, and me and him were starting to lose hope.

Like, this place is kind of dead. You fucking would. They score their first goal, place goes ballistic, score the second place goes nuts. And then Wyatt Johnson scores the third place is erupting, because they were down 2-0. Miko Ranton and was on the avalanche. They traded him because they didn't want to pay him.

And he ends up, hat tricks sends his old team home, same year, game seven. It was like, it was a perfect game to go to. The Jets Blues game seven was probably even fucking crazier. It was one three with two minutes left. I turned the game off. Zinney texted me, oh my God. And I was like, no way they just came back. They scored with one second at home to tie it, go into O.T.

And then one. Dude, I can't imagine being a Blues fan watching that. I mean, to see your team get scored on with one second. second left and losing a double O T? I was so pissed. I just turned it off and then it got good. Oh my God. I was so pissed. They probably thought that was unloosable. Three one with a minute. There's three with a minute

54. I mean even the stars they were down it was 02 they had like no offense all night and then 12 minutes left just boom boom boom boom they won four two. Did you watch the Nuggets game last night? No. Dude another insane comeback. What is going on? Nuggets won that? They were down like seven or eight with like a

minute 30 left. Dude I turned it off when they were down eight. Fuck. Am I just miss it? I didn't just watch the game out. That's why you got to hold strong, man. That's why you got to hold strong. I'm missing everything.

Dude, it's crazy. So, Maniac and I finished our Minecraft server. We were playing Deadfoot Island. It was a map created by... What's up with it, man? What's up with it, man? There he is, guys. Fucking Big Maniac Kirshner, man.

All up in here. See? It's as unprofessional as you can get here. You do what? You want to hit that vape? Hit that vape. But did you see that there's like an actual lung shit happening disease? I knew.

Popcorn lung? So, so yeah, man, like, you know, obviously everything's super late back. We're shooting a podcast. Nick Mania Kirshin walked up said highly to everybody just because it is. But you guys need, you need to play Minecraft again because it is a completely different game and it's more magical than it's ever fucking man. You play Minecraft? Uh, you see.

Yeah? The thing about Minecraft, I always play it, but I never commit to actually learning it. I play the bare bones. I do the same thing. I get my diamonds and then I stop. If I actually committed to learning it, I'm sure it would be fun, but every time I just stop.

You got, listen, there's so many bosses now that you have to defeat. Well, I really want to play. All right those bosses gives you some. I really want to play the new Eldon Scrolls game, the RPG that just came out, the remaster. I've been watching people play it,

and I really want to play it. Well, you saw Gears of Wars coming. Yes, it did. They're remastering it for PC, PS5, and Xbox, I think. The first thing I said is, Like what's my man Gilbert doing? Oh, I have no idea.

I'm pretty sure a new gears is like scheduled to come out. Like E-Day or something. GTA got. Delayed again? I don't know if we talked about that on the pod. We didn't. It got delayed again until May 2026, so exactly a year from now. Which a lot of people are upset about.

They're like, you guys have had 12 years. But at this point, it's been long enough. You do what you have to do. As long as you put out the best possible product, obviously, the sooner the better. But you got to, it's your artwork. And you put it out when you think it's ready. That's on you to decide. Some people are speculating that the reason it's taken so long

is because of the in-game economy that's going to have real-world implications once you get in there. Oh, really? Mm-hmm. You can actually work at the gas station and make money at the gas station. I was thinking of working at the 7-Eleven.

If that happens, that's crazy. If you're making real-life money by working in GTA, the realities behind that are probably insane, though, like trying to figure it all out. You don't think so? No, no. Because it's not third party like CS scans, It's like, you know what I'm saying?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like actually them. I don't know, man. You ever play GTA? No? I mean, I played in my boys' house, but I've never really owned it. I never forget growing up on PS2. What was I playing?

Vice City, San Andreas? I don't know. I don't know which one was played. What is your, what's your favorite call duty of all the time? AW. AW? You feel like Advanced Warfare was like your best game? No, not my best, but.

Do you think you were gun on me? Yeah. TRI. I like that. I literally had like a 50 and O one V1 team. Like my first ever like... Really? 50 to 1V1 team?

Yeah. Radar always on? No. Yeah. Yeah. Just one dollar best of these. You aren't gonna me, man. Come on.

I was trying to get some dope there. Be like, no. No, I'm not going King's Scum. Just shut us down. Skype shut down? I know you're hype about that. I was just about to say. He's in any type of shit.

Skype shut down. Because he was in there fucking. All those logs are gone. I was sick. And that's not even talking about. The blacklist? The shit we don't talk about. Has you ever used Skype?

Yeah? Yeah. It's the best. I'm acting like you're 15. You're 21. You're only six years younger than me. We lived the same life. That's a big difference, though.

That's a full high school. Nine years younger than me. Like you weren't, you didn't go to the same high school period in that period. Next month. Yeah, that's crazy. 30. I'm uncle. Uncle.

That makes me what? Yeah, you're grams. Hell yeah. 30 like early 30s is uncle because like my I'm literally an uncle my brother yeah I'm literally an uncle but once you're like 40 45 yeah you grams then the Skype ending's like the end of an error though because that was like our main like there was a time where Skype was our thing like and then you started learning how to hack people through it we went through sky yeah we went yeah because people Skype starting getting hacked

and that's when it's like this is that's when all the hackers were running rampant too you'd be getting all the chats I was like I deleted Skype so early I was not getting on this shit you missed that And you can get hit off. Hackers used to call my home phone and say, Hi, Stacey, can I speak to Anthony? And it'd be a fucking hacker. I'm just like, dude, you need to stop calling my house phone.

You sick, fuck. Crazy. Oh, yeah, no, you guys were like, no, no, no. So that's why. You guys were known. That's why. Known? Like, I was just like, yeah.

I mean, that was back when swatting. No, I wasn't happening to do. Crazy. That shit was crazy. Y'all, don't, it's a good thing. One of the first things that we tell people when we're planning on picking them up is don't follow anyone. Don't follow anyone in the org.

Don't follow the org. Don't follow nothing. You haven't followed anyone, right? Bruce. You followed Bruce? Bruce and Jay-Pee? No, that's not like a giveaway, though. No, it's one thing if he's following Peterman.

No, if he were following Page, for example. He's following Page, for example. No, I follow JP to. Oh, okay. That's still normal, though. No, that's kind of, if I was like one of those deep fucking in the mix, leaps. Yeah, if I saw him follow J.P, I'd be like, hold on.

That's when you start playing the game. If you're going to follow JP, then you've got to follow four different coaches. Just to throw him off the center. Shot CDM, he said, I'm not going to follow you yet. Really? I thought he was him. It's the first thing I told Paige, I'm like, yo, make sure that you tell him, do not follow anyone. Did you tell you there?

Okay, okay, okay. It's important. Listen, it's important because, one, we owe it to the, fans to give them something entertaining and something out of the blue with that's going to fucking shock their brains and they're going to get dope. Two, because of that experience that they get your introduction to that experience, it's also very important because it's your career. You know what I'm saying?

Like your shit is now, it started, now it's serious. What do you do with that going forward? So every single step of the way, specifically in the announcement, is mega important, in my opinion. I actually can't wait for that news to drop today because no one's expecting it now. I mean, you're going live instantly? I think ever, I mean, I'm going on. I'm playing in Davis's solo yoga.

See, I'm off today. Yeah, I'm stream. I'm, uh, watch partying all, everything today. Yeah? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Are you guys streaming scrimms?

Uh, I don't know. Probably not first day. Right. I don't know. We'll see. We'll see. Uh, ladies and gentlemen, that is going to do it for episode 224 of the Optic podcast. I'd like to thank my man, Merculeeus for hopping on and, uh, being a good sport.

Welcome, man. I'm glad to see what you do, man. Happy to be here. Hell yeah. Guys, his information is going to be in the description down below. Make sure you go follow him. Give him a warm green wall welcome. And we'll see you guys next week.

Peace. Peace.