OpTic Podcast - THE MOST INSANE YEAR OF CALL OF DUTY EVER | The OpTic Podcast Ep. 235

Episode Date: July 31, 2025

Go to http://shopify.com/optic to sign up for your $1-per-month trial and start selling today. Go to http://ButcherBox.com/optic to get this limited time offer and free shipping always. Go to http://Lucy.co/OPTIC and use promo code OPTIC to get 20% off your first order. 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 THE MOST INSANE YEAR OF CALL OF DUTY EVER | The OpTic Podcast Ep. 235 00:00 Intro 02:00 EWC Champions 19:00 HCS Ending 25:00 Old School MLG Format 29:26 Ads 35:30 HCS Salt Lake City 45:00 MaNiac Elden Ring 50:00 World Series of Warzone Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ladies, gentlemen, spectators all around the world, green wall members all around the world, congratulations, world championship and college duty, EWC champions. I mean, the turnaround of this year has to be studied. The process that's coming out on Optic Day is going to be one hour long plus. Okay I'm a to you near Netflix I mean this might have

We might have to get this Hmm Might have to watch party That there's gonna be a scum watch party I know probably Watch partying that It needs to go live And this is the problem with everyone

Okay Everybody Everybody There's a fucking Everyone This is the fucking It's the fucking Juice out of it

Yeah It's like everyone's trying to squeeze Your mind goes right To watch Party Bro Yeah It's fucking

God damn Somebody else Did something How can I do it How can I get it How can I get it How can I get it? How can I?

Let me get my cut somehow. For real. Let me get, let me get what I get. And then on top of that, let me get some more. What the fuck? Ladies and gentlemen, as I mentioned already, congratulations to everyone. We all won on this one, except for you.

Except for you and except for you and except for you. Okay. All you 10 people that were all talking shit at the beginning, all you fucking fake-ass Greenwald members, all you fake-ass fair weather fans, bye-bye, go fucking support someone else. Because right here we stick. Right here we stick through the toughest times.

If anything, you should be looking forward to the toughest times, to the dark times, so that you can say, I stood by it. That is your opportunity to say, you know what? I'm going to prove today when we're 118, how fucking die hard I am for the logo. Anyway, to the rest of you guys, congratulations. We fucking got darn did it. Took a minute, man. It was dark times, Pam.

We got the co-hosts today. We got my man, Pam. We got Money Biscuit. We got a hitcher ride to my right. I want to thank our sponsor, Shopify, Butcher Box, and Lucy. We'll tell you a little bit more about them later on in the podcast. Merck has the highest earnings through four events in Call of Duty history.

And you know what? The kid's welcome to. Did you see that? The meme was kind of fucked up. But did you see the meme of his earnings? Yeah. It was like he had a crown on. It was like the earnings.

I forgot what it's a lot. And then behind him is Zinn and Zuma. Oh my God. That's insane to think about. That's so nice. Three events. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, that's also just how inflated the prize pools have become.

Not inflated, but that's how they've grown. Well, no. He's what? They're less now than they were back in the day. Huh? He's two for four. Two for four. Two for three.

Like majors, right? Well, yeah, what us? Yeah, two for three. better. Oh, oh, oh, sorry, two for four. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Two for three sounds way better because he's been on our time. Mercury now has more career earnings than both Zuma and methods. Did he win challengers at all?

He didn't even, and what's crazy? No, he never won a challengers. Yeah, what? The bread ain't even come yet. That's crazier. No, he's about to get like six Honda. Right? Hold on, three to six, obviously. Bro.

Plus little bone, like just do everything. Yeah, I thought three and six was for you. Dude, yeah. Plus his salary. You know, you know, you know, you know, him above. Yeah. I don't need to do nothing with his contract right now.

I didn't need, I could leave it as is right now. And then I can, I can talk to him later on in this year. But no, man, no. Heck no. You did some generational, man. Like, crazy. Yeah, that's some insane shit. The 1v3.

Dude. I was like, man, this this motherfucker never quits. Like, he, it's, I think he was kind of quiet for, grand finals of champs. Yeah. But that's because like Dashie went, I think Dashie and Shotsie went crazy. Yeah.

But then like every other series I've ever seen him play. Yeah. It was just like, holy shit. Like he doesn't stop. No, dude, it's, uh, it, we, we, dude,

I don't know, divine intervention. I don't know what it was. But my goodness. My goodness. And you know it's crazy. Like, it does feel good.

Like I, obviously anytime, and Optic Team wins is fucking good but because it's a move that I was directly literally, not that I'm not, but this one was like, I felt it close. Zinni said the same thing. He's like, man, I like, my involvement

in getting Merck made me a bigger fan of this thing, but that's not just up there, right? Obviously, Hooke, our best player the entire year, the composure from this dude, the resilience of just, man, I cannot thank that dude enough, man. You touch an ants?

Hey Oh no Listen Ant's contract Has been touched Dash's contract Been touched But I'm personally

Gonna gonna gonna Do something for them Obviously the The company is a business And it needs to operate as a business So You know Here I come

To save the day I mean obviously Shotsi Like the monster plays this guy continues to bail us out in the toughest darkest moments he comes in what would you say of his play like of his plays like how impactful has like his plays like it's like uh i was actually thinking about that it's almost like he's putting his life on the line putting everybody else in a better he before he goes out he takes one with him makes one one

one shot and knows where everyone else is spawning or makes him spawn and he's doing so while also remaining positive playing at that pace bro you know how hard it you know how hard it is to play at that pace and go positive it's not even about your gun skill or bro you're constantly on the move he can get caught at any time and then like his reaction time and bales him out he'll be like mid-wide wide running up the stairs and someone will just run into yeah real quick and the way he like The way he hits the last bullet and he's already moving away. Yeah, his like momentum is already carrying the rules.

On Haseenda, where we clutched up. I think it was, it may have been finals. I don't know. Something was about to happen. And it was the point by the fences. And it comes through top mid. He gets a kill. He gets a kill.

The guy back 10 shoots at him. Now, mind you, everyone knows you could throw an eight and run behind it. But it's not about that. It's about how he gets shot at, shimmies away, instantly throws an aide, behind an aid, he's already springing. He knows that as he, it's gonna explode

before he hits the ground, so he's trailing you at the right time. Before the dust, he's coming out the dust to kill him. The guy behind, he also knows there's a guy off spawned. You're talking Hossie in the back, right? But he knows, bro, I'm flying. If he picks me, he picks me, but there's no way. Even if he makes me one shot, he can't shoot and get the words out before the guy in 10 can turn around.

and kill me. Yeah. What you know what's nuts about that is that he couldn't even see the door from where he was at. And the way that he threw it, I thought he was bouncing it off in and to cut off the guy that was coming into 10. But that shit made it inside a 10. As he lands, well, as he's about to land, that thing explodes. There's dust everywhere.

So obviously the enemy looks and some dust and the here comes through the dust. Like that's why I'd be trying to, it's not even about like, you got have good gun skill and all that, bro, but it's so much. Scott the second place. God used to just be gun skills. The need goes in to 10, which forces him to backs him up enough to be like, bro, my guy off spawn is going to have to pick this up. I'm going to turn around and help the point. I'm not about to sit here and lay with my back to the point while they're coming to it.

And it's just so much little shit, like, while not communicating that, he's not saying all that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I feel like Old Cod was like all gun skill and, like, positioning. Yeah, yeah. And now it's like, obviously gun skill. but it's like the repositioning and the routes so much more and the movement, just the movement

in general. Yeah, man, like you see the routes even if you watch like a, even Cold War like to an extent like like, like and especially the old games like blockups two ghosts and stuff like that like they were they were the glory days but I mean you couldn't even make plays like that

like it wasn't even possible like you were doing it but it was all in slow motion yeah yeah it was like it didn't look as cool like running the flag back and fucking super slow. You get stunned. You're like slowly moving and your teammate comes mid and helps you.

Yeah, yeah. That's why like the best moments from those years are like four pieces and shit like that because like the gun skill was the fun part. Like it was fun to watch Crem. It was fun to watch formal when he came on. But like nowadays it's fun as fuck to watch Shotsie, Hydra,

uh, hook. There's so many players like that. Yeah, I know. Like that are just, you watch you're like what the fuck I wonder if the ARs ever like watch their sub players and they're like

thank God I don't gotta do all that shit like yeah I thought like bro I wonder how Brandon feels about like Shati like when he watches him like he probably has so much you know how good it probably feels to like yo we're gonna hit this site and it's aunt going in

yeah he said it yeah he throws out like a Pokemon like go in there go get in there and he just watch him fucking but he also has But you also have to think about it from Shotsie's perspective. You know, Dashie's shot is the most laser-focused shot I've ever seen in the history of Call of Duty. No, I mean, name somebody that's sharper in the precision because all he shots is, all he shoots his heads.

No matter where they're at. If they're peeking, not peeking, shouldering, not shouldering, he's aiming at the tiniest, tiniest little pixel. And he's fucking ripping wigs, dude. He reminds me like I was watching the final and granted I only watch really optic series nowadays So I don't know as much about Cod as I used to But whenever I see Brandon Chowl like he chowls like formal does He'll get someone weak and if that weak person goes behind a he repositions out in the middle of nowhere He moves up like and so any other person is losing that fight but they're just I mean

Brandon just aims right on their fucking head even when he has no cover and that's how Matt used to chat Matt I mean I mean, there's a clip of Matt talking about it on his stream. It's like 3 a.m. and he's just fucking talking. And he was like, I think I, he was like, I think I invented like chowling. I think I invented like, like if you, if I tag you up, I'm going to just slide out into the middle of the open and chow. And nobody in Cod was doing that before me.

Yeah. I was like, what the fuck? I mean, who's not saying, who's going to tell him he's wrong? Who's not telling me he's wrong? You know, speaking of formal and, and obviously like, We're going to talk about EWC for until the next time that these guys compete. Well, one of the exciting things about this team is that they are just getting fucking started. This team has been together for two months, maybe.

They played only four fucking majors. If you go back and you look at our watch party, when we got knocked out, you hear me say, guys, we didn't, not the result we wanted, but I saw what I needed to see. And that was the improvement. Because I knew that giving two more months, giving time for all of them to acclimate to the, to the kid and the kid to them, it was going to be a fucking rap. And I wasn't thinking that we were going to have

the success that we had, but I knew that we were going to be a top contender once they sort of settled into their stuff, right? So, I don't know, man. What a tremendous year, man. What a tremendous... Where the fuck is it right here?

What a tremendous year. Is that the sage you burnt? That is the sage I burn. I'd be burning that shit in my apartment. Huh? I'd be burning that shit. in my apartment. I'll be burdened something else,

you know what I'm saying, boss? You know, that Pine Park, Pine Park. Shop, guys, go, go get us. Get some ship to your crib right now. All right, you know, obviously speaking of formal, HTS, Salt Lake City is this weekend. I leave on Thursday.

I'm going to hang out with the guys. I haven't really had a chance to go with them because of the watch party and because several different reasons, right? So I'm going to go to this one and then I'm going to go to the champs. Did we have any flight budget left?

Why are you trying to go? and then I could get my own hotel. Okay. Or like own flight and then hotel. No, no, no. If you're trying to go, you'll get your flight and your hotel covered. Hmm.

Oh, yeah, we will. Yeah. I don't go out. I'm down pretty much. Salt Lake City is fucking. I know. That's why I've ever been. And it's legal at her.

Yeah. It's legal at her. Yeah. What state is Salt Lake City in? Utah. Oh, I thought, Colorado. I said Utah.

Oh, shit. What should think? Colorado. Heathar Colorado. What the fuck? Yeah, Colorado's dope. All that shit's kind of the same. You won't like Colorado, though.

Yeah, it is over there. You won't like Colorado, though. Utah's better. Utah got way better views, right? Dude, all that area is like where I'm retiring. I want to retire by pine trees. Pine trees, cold winters. I'm not, no bullshit.

I'm like, what is this? If I play playtime sunset in Utah, yeah. But look at this. Look at the mountains, man. I need to look at. There you go. Right there. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

You gotta retire on a lake, man. Get a dock out there. You ties them. Ooh. I grew up next to the mountains. To the Sierra Mother Mountains. My mountain said, La Biblia is La Verda,

which, of course, translates to the Bible is the truth. Read it. But, yeah, I can't. I love Texas, man. I love Frisco. I love Frisco. I love Texas.

I fucking love Frisco. I love Texas. But it's been hot recently, though. It's so hot. Oh, dude. August. Yeah, it's hot. Walking from the coffee shop to here.

I was just like, but like before we left from Toronto, before Toronto to now is way different. The heat's completely different. Oh, dude, it's going to get worse. August is about to start like tomorrow. Or as you're watching this. We're in August right now. August is the hottest month. August is usually when we have a buck 10 the entire month.

A buck 10 plus the entire month. Is it? Yeah. It was June. No. It's August. Always. You can't fish in August.

You can't fish in August. That's how I know. I know it's getting hot here when I'm like driving. I'm like, I look at the air, it's three notches, 67. I'm like, how the fuck are my underarms sweating? I don't get it. I literally don't understand it. Yeah, I know.

Like, especially like like an arrangler, this shit never gets cold. Like, yeah, cracks in it. Because there's cracks in it and everything. I have it, I have it all the way down to like, like, on, yeah, all the way down to like low. And it's all the way up. I'm still like sweating. Like what the fuck? I can't do that.

I need my shit. Take all my walksie. What are the pools for Solic City? Wait, before we move on, can we see the Merck 1v3? I can't really, we just. We can't pass up any opportunity to see this over and over again, man. Hit it with the. Oh, I haven't watched the comms video.

Oh, dude, it's so good. Blow it up and start it over. Bro, this kid is insane, dude. Look at him, look at him. Look at him. Dude. Who just starts clapping? Look at Hooke, man.

Just staring out. Like, if you go back and you look at, go back and then pause, like at the moment where you get to kill. Pause in their reactions. Okay. Time out. I want to point something out, bro. Look at Hooke. Yeah, I know.

Who is the iciest most, like, emotionless person during competition. Right. The most to get a reaction like that out of it. I think that reaction is not for the fact. I think it's mixed with. one way was a fucking crazy clutch but like it's like bro he just gave us a perfect cushion like yeah he started clapping just robs the controller like just I can imagine how really it's right there he's just staring right at him like

no he's trying to get the diffuse and right here he says get the fuck off me hook looks at who looks at him like we were all looking at who like what like where did it where did this all this shit come where the shit all come from breath right here ready look look look look at right right here right here got when he goes to Dap up Dashi he's like, get the fuck off me. Get the fuck off me. Look at this deep breath he takes right here. Ready, ready?

Look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me, look at Maze. Right, ready, ready, ready? 5, 4, 3, 2. Let it out, kid. Let it out. Ant is still in, like, disbelief. Like to get that reaction from those three players is insane I have a message right here from Dashie.

He's on the plane right now on the way back. And he said some stuff, some stuff. And then he says, Best Beat Day gift ever. And I said, ha, ha, ha. Fucking May sitting next one passed the fuck out. Get some Z's young man.

You just serve a man. Get some sleep. I'm going to send it to you right now, man. Wake up with some sleep marks on the plane Here you go, Matt, who's editing this? Alright, I'm gonna send it to you When is that? That's good, that's occur.

So, he's probably not even, how much has he gotten paid so far from his earnings? Nothing? Nothing? That's just gonna come in like a... Yeah. Oh my god. He's gonna get straight train. 386.

The wrecking ball for the wall. He got a car from the bank like, what do you do? What do you do? Let's run his back when he could. Somebody make sure to hook him up with a wire. Count it. Yet another guy that's moving out,

moving into my apartment complex and moving out, because he's going to get a house. You know, just quit. Dude, this guy, anyway, enough about the team. Let's move on to HCS, All Lake City.

It's talking about formal, obviously, in the comparison. I mean, look, what's happening with HCS was sort of expected. I was talking to formal. Formal side is like, man, I'm surprised it lasted another year.

I thought that this year was going to, Last year was going to be the year where they said that there's going to be no 2025. But there was. Now, HCS as a competition is going away, that doesn't mean that other tournament organizers can't throw an event, a Halo event, right? But let's talk a little bit about that. Obviously, like, what do you see? What do you see happening? Because I was talking to the Halo team yesterday.

Talk to formal, talk to Renegade, talk to Bound and, of course, legend, who has been very voiceless about his plans. on, you know, going to go play Call the Duty. Really? Yeah. And then formal is formal, obviously. I mean, it was, it's happened once before. It happened after Halo 5. There was like a three-year, two-year gap after Halo 5 before Halo Infinite.

Yeah. And it was mostly Dreamhack tournaments. There was a couple of reach tournaments. There was a couple Halo 3 tournaments. And a lot of players, that's when Frosty came over to Cod. Oh, yeah, yeah. And he was sick on Cod, man. Yeah, that whole, which is going to happen again.

Like if, if, uh, I, I don't think that players like Frosty, players like, uh, renegade, players like legend, uh, I don't think those players are going to stay on Halo. I think they're going to, I think they're going to try it out. They got to shoot, man. Like, they got to keep shooting on something, man. Those guys are so talented, like. Why not? Yeah.

Yeah, you're too good to let that shit go to waste ever. Dude, yeah. I told, I told, you know, I, I told them straight up. I'm like get a fifth and play Counterstrike or get a fifth and play Valerant. I'm down, that's what I said. I'm down, just trying out. You guys fucking figure out how to play

those incredibly hard-ass games. But you have the aim. You know what I'm saying? This is my contention. Is there more teams being added to the CDO? No. No. But it's a good thing that you ask that, Pam,

because when you look at Omit and when you look at P7, which is also an OMIT team, omit, am I saying that? right omit I'm kind of like omit but anyway when you see their performance obviously Mamba a fucking super standout player craze a super fucking standout player who else stood out from who's in P7? Who's good not X not X crase um yeah I like that one kid uh fuck what was his name

mystic or something like that mythic I thought he was the I thought he was decent. Yeah, bro. Brack, even though Brack was in the league and he was before, he's really good at this game as well. He's another player that like had a,

last year he was kind of like, eh, but in this game, like shit, even like Joe to see, he was good at this game. What I'm trying to, where I was going with that thought,

Pam, is this is what got taken away from us when we turned over into this, into this new iteration of professional, of duty, right? The ability for Cinderella stories for the ability for, look, I look at myself like coming into call of duty with everything that, I mean, obviously like the amount of trial and error

that we are currently living now, the 20 years of trial and error done by people like me, by Stro, by people who have been here from the beginning, like those are all good guidelines and blueprints that you can follow. But if I'm somebody like Rafi or if I'm somebody like all the other, who else is out there, right, that have their own team. Like it's just such an impossible thing to do like I I would go fucking nuts The old way was better because it makes it to where you can't ignore them exactly Like they're in there you got to get them out now it's they're gonna we they're either gonna suck and get themselves out or

Shit you can't ignore them like they would have been a Greek team I wasn't the old days again it was open bracket and 400 teams got a chance to be 400 teams Yes there was groups of groups of and three of them were pro teams and then that fourth that fourth spot was qualified through an open bracket it's just I mean it's the best way a hundred percent and it lights a fire

on every other fucking professional that's out there just collecting a fucking check bro literally the last year they stopped doing it Pam was when we our team was just ass online Optic Nation and we didn't make the online league to go be in the league on plan or whatever and we had to play open bracket we won the whole thing and that was it. It was just like...

Oh yeah, because you guys didn't. I'm like... There's two separate tournaments, right? Yeah, I was literally like, I was so like kind of like just dopless. I'm like, I wanted to ask the ref. Like, there's no way we can play. Like... Do you know what we've done?

For real. Yeah, no, Cinderella stories. From there was it. Yeah. The beauty of e-sports is that anybody can compete and anybody can fucking put their money on the line and fucking buy their team pass and then go fucking spectate and play. Like Halo

Halo still does it that way And it's it's fun It's fun as hell to watch But I remember like one of the first Halo Infinite tournaments I think it was talks at the time So it was like the Royal 2 frosty renegade snakebite They renegade got into some Or sorry Royal 2 got into some issues where he like

Messed with some online settings And so they banned him And they made the team play an open bracket So they took away their pro spot Made them play an open bracket And that team tore through that bracket Tore through open bracket Yeah I'm sure they love they haven't played in the pit

Like steak bites it was like I haven't played in the pit in 10 years or something Something like that So he played in that tore through the fucking thing Made it and made it to grand finals or whatever Made it like through you know and started playing the real teams Just their whole Friday and Saturday They just tore through the open bracket And then that's how I mean that's how I pretty much made my name

Like first event I ever played at was Dallas Yeah, MLG Dallas. And then, um, 20... Blackups too, right? Oh, turn it. 2013, I think. Or, yeah, it's maybe early 2014 to 2013. And then we lost round one,

won like 10 matches straight and beat Fear to qualify for top eight and qualify for champs. And then the next event I placed top six with Fais, with Zinn. Yeah. And then from there it was like... Dang. But that's the best way, because it's... it's like you can't be ignored

bro and there's so many and there's just like a it's like a there's like a soul to that like not every match has to be streamed that's how I feel like like there was a time any good matches went down like so many stories I watched in person

there might be footage of it out there somewhere but at UGC Niagara oh my god I think I know you're talking about for some reason the complexity team that never lost lost first round one So they're round one losers Round one losers

And for I they lost to a good team But they got you know They choked a little bit It might have been that stun 1v3 Remember that stun? He was behind the Behind the white car on a On Warhawk

And he just this random kid Happened to 1V3 complexity He got like 10,000 followers in a day At UGC But anyway that So they lose round one And round one of losers is not streamed They're playing Nihil

and all them. It goes game five, round 11. Dog, that was the most people I've ever seen watch a side match. Just like... Surrounding a bunch of, like, just the table. Just surrounding these kids. They're playing, Complexity Squad

is playing these, like, kids. These degenerate kids. They get up yell and they stink, and they, you know, they talk shit. And they're just playing this team. They're just complete fighters. That's the fucking fighter team. That's where I met you the first time, huh?

It might be. It might be. Ten years ago, bro. Yeah, I think you lost round one of this tournament too. The hitcher ride logo, man. Bro, we were playing fucking Faze Black down 2-0, and Brian St. St. pulled out an easy button. That was easy.

I forgot about that. And they got reverse swept. I remember Rick was like, dude, here's a fucking easy button, bro. We need to turn up now. Bro, that was Brian St. St. thing. Was the easy button. I forgot about that shit.

Yeah. He would hit that shit too And that was easy But thank God that Thank by the fucking heavens that Granted we did beat them They were up to O But their fourth

Instead of Brian Saint was supposed to be saints Yeah I know That team That team was that phase black team They just put shooters together Bro It was it formal saints Bro you don't understand

How good he was bro At ghosts Yeah he was a daint bro I don't know yeah I understand how good that can I remember sitting in the pro lounge and the players were watching the players were watching the jumbo tron they were like yeah I think and they were watching

it was on Saints they were like I think this I think he's the best player right now like everybody should be watching this unreal there was like there's only like three players I've ever played with that like you kind of get this feeling like you know you're about to play someone good as fuck

but you like look to your left and you're kind of like I got him with me. I'm really good. It was scump, Saints, and Mere. It was only three players that ever felt like that about. I remember,

and it was versus Optic, Optic, but I think it was after X games. It was Mere and Proofy in a 1V1, right? And Proofy watches Meir go to the corner. And I'm like,

Yo, Mir, he saw you. He's like, I'm about the gun and shit out of him. I'm like, Mir, he saw you. He's like, I'm about the gunned shit out of him. And then Proof comes slow, peeking around the corner.

And Mere kills him. I'm like, wait a minute. You might know so shit. I was like, that was a great, I was like, Marcus, that was the greatest shit I've ever seen. I've ever seen because, like, he was dead. I was like, yeah, that was great. Yeah, and no, there was only three players, though. The best side match I ever saw was Philly, UMG Philly.

TK was playing Envy. I hope you guys are enjoying the podcast today. We are going to talk about the sponsor of the Optic podcast today. One of those being Lucy. Lucy are some nicotine pouches. Obviously, you probably have heard of them before. And maybe some of their competitors, they are pouches that you pop in your upper lip. And they are 100% pure nicotine, always tobacco free.

There's also breakers. These are breakers. So they have like a little ball in them. And when you crack that ball open, it's minty fresh. It has a little bit of flavors and some hydration to it as well. Um, and it can be released and it, it feels nice. It's a great, great, great little surprises, as they say. You can set yourself up with a subscription and have Lucy delivered straight to your door,

a big old roll of them right to your door. There's all sorts of different strengths. I know a lot of people that use the breakers. I think the breakers are a lot of fun. Um, and they're four milligrams. Uh, so, you know, nothing too crazy. I've seen the memes though. I've seen the memes that are like if you're not, if you're not hidden.

six MGs are you a man or not but personally four is good for me let's level up your nicotine routine with lucy go to lucy dot co slash optic and use promo code optic to get 20% off of your first order lucy has a 30 day refund policy as well if you change your mind so try it out for 30 days and if you don't like it there is a refund available again that is lucy dot co and use code optic to get 20% off here comes to fine print lucy products are only for adults of legal age and every order is age verified warning this product contains nicotine nicotine is an addictive chemical i know one thing that you guys want whenever you're watching this podcast is with how to get more meat how to get it delivered straight to your door well i've got the perfect solution for you

and when we're talking about butcher box we've talked about them before it's time to talk about them again for those that have missed when dinner hits and your fridge is full of question marks butcher box has your back. Skip the last minute supermarket sweep or impromptu chop challenge with whatever's left in your fridge. Butcher box delivers better meat right when you need it. I know some of you guys out there, your refrigerator and especially your freezer is looking like a crime scene.

I know you've got broccoli in there from 2019. I know some of you guys have pre-COVID broccoli in your freezer right now. And every time you look at your freezer, you're like, damn, how do I? how do I, uh, I should probably handle that. But, um, you can upgrade and you can improve your situation and, uh, butcher box is a good way to start. I'm talking about top quality meat that is delivered, responsibly sourced proteins delivered right to your door.

No mystery meat, no sketchy sourcing, just better options right there for your fingertips. Butcher box delivers better meat and seafood straight to your door, including 100% grass-fed beef, free-range organic chicken, pork-raised crate, free, and wild-caught seafood. All butcher box proteins are sourced from partners who meet strict animal welfare and sustainability standards. That means no antibiotics or added hormones ever. So whether you're feeding a growing family or trying to eat clean without the stress, Butcherbox offers curated or fully customizable plans that fit your schedule and your preferences. There's three different butcher boxes that you can choose from or you can have a custom box and make your own.

My personal favorite is the beef pork and chicken box because a little bit of variety. You get two pounds of ground beef, two New York strip steaks, four top sirloin steaks, a pound of whole pork tenderloin and three pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Deliver right to you. I mean, that's a whole lot of meat. right now butcherbox is offering our listeners $20 off of their first box and free protein for a year go to butcherbox.com slash optic to get this limited time offer and free shipping always that's butcherbox.com slash optic don't forget to use our link so that they know we sent you go get yourself some meat man I know if you guys are watching the optic podcast you're entrepreneurs looking to explore into the

business world and eventually sell your business one day for a trillion dollars and then be like, man, I loved watching Hitch growing up. So I'm going to give him a cut. I know that's what you guys are looking for. But if you're just starting your business, it's time to talk Shopify, as we always do. The boys are back. Shopify is a commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10% of all e-commerce in the United States, from household names like Mattel and Jim Shark to brands that

are just getting started. I'm telling you, it does not get easier to start a business to sell your product and to get it out there than using Shopify is the easiest tool and is so nice. Accelerate your content creation. Shopify is packed with helpful AI tools that write product descriptions, page headlines, and even enhance your product photography. And the best part is Shopify is your commerce expert with world class expertise in everything from managing inventory to internet. national shipping to processing returns and beyond. It makes it easier. I mean, 30 years ago, they had entire buildings for this. And now you can do it with the click of the button.

If you are ready to sell, then you are ready for Shopify. Turn your big business idea into, play it twice. With Shopify on your side, sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at Shopify.com slash opta. Go to Shopify. dot com slash optic that is Shopify dot com slash optic oh is the the series where

uh... Neslo gets up and says you're a fucking fan it was uh... because who was it Gungar left TK to go to envy they meet each other and loseers colors do you like their colors? He liked their colors yeah you like those colors don't you I'm like yo Neslo come on let's use a little bit of thinking right now

N's say no says to this day he goes bro, Gunjar was a fan of proof he looked up to him. That was hilarious. That series was crazy. It went game five too. And all the respawns were tight as hell. All right, back to HCS.

Click on the pools really quickly, Matt. I want to see who's pool we're in. Page and that file. Close already. Oh, no, I remember we're back. All right. We are, oh, of course. Optic envy.

Complexity, omit, omit, TSM, okay, sorry, I skipped. Somebody else say it because I'm having a brain fart. How did this? Unreal nightmare, envy. What the fuck? How do we shop before? Hold on, where are the groups? The groups are, are what?

Oh, okay, okay. These are the broadcast. Who play? So first, we must play. I don't know who the fuck we play. Oh, so maybe there's only three people in a group? So we play the winner or the winner of. Shopify

This is a schedule for fucking Friday These aren't the groups Oh I'm an idiot It says pool play Where? Under broadcast Oh pool play Friday But

Okay so Maybe there's only three people in a group Or oh so the three people in our group Are us in the Unreal nightmare and then the fourth team is the pool Gotcha Or the open bracket team Okay we got we got ourselves all right

That's a great pool Yeah no That's an incredible incredible pool. There you go. That's a great, like, get the guns warm, get the weekend going.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Like, you end hot and you keep it going. Yeah. I like, I like what Team Nemesis is doing. I like the branding a lot.

The branding. Yeah, I like the branding. I like the, I like what they do from a social perspective. Their cartoon is dope. Very different. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, it's less like, it's less like They're not They don't take themselves too serious What team is stellar on? What? Stellar? Yeah.

Space Station? I don't know anymore. Or you see Shopify. I get them all. You space station, right, Matt? Click on Space Station. Space Station. I know that phase team

I think that phase team is a lot better. This is stiler. Ron Don. Brad Don. Irie. From what I've heard, the shakeup has it's not just us and Shopify anymore.

Like that phase team and that space station team, I think they've both improved. I mean, last I heard, I don't know. From the last event? Yeah, because they kind of, everybody else just kind of got smoked that last event. And our team just ran through everyone. They were like 14 and 1 on Sunday.

Something crazy. It was something insane. Or 14 and 1 through Losers Bracket. but yeah I'm excited to watch I love watching HALA I haven't been to a HALA event in a minute so I mean obviously dream hack but also on the watch party the whole time on the Codd watch party I stepped into the into the Hala watch party after we were done with our stuff but after we got knocked out but I am excited to go I've never been to Salt Lake City any recommendations that you guys may have throw them in my phone I'm actually you know what by the time that you get this that you see this I've already already made all the appointments or the reservations for every single all the most five virus restaurants around their joint. Cool. You know, formal didn't really give me anything yesterday. Okay, the only ones they gave me a little bit of something,

a little bit of like a planning of what happens after HCS is done. You know, what do? And is HCS done or is it taking an leave of absence? No, it's going to bring it to the name. They're going to focus on the new game. Okay, okay. Once the new game comes out, then HCS. may make a return.

What are some of the developers like running these tournaments too at the same time? They can't just like make the game while the tournaments are still going on or what? It's the amount of money that they're spending, Pam. What?

You think just money just gross on trees? Get it together. You know, it is, it is they did do what they did a lot, man. HCS did a lot of a lot of good work. They put on a good one as two years. They definitely did.

They did more than I thought they were going to Yeah, they did more than... The fact that we have a whole series this year is crazy to me. Yeah. So they did... Look, at the end of the day, the game is a little bit too old to sort of like reignite the passion of the HALA community to come back into this thing and to make it be like what it once was.

But that's what happens when you take these long fucking breaks, right? Like when you take the look... If they were the number one e-sport shooter on console way back in the day, they started as that. It is one of the main things that the sort of... put us in a position to, you know, to get to where we're at. But to take a break like that is like they're doing the same thing that they already did. Yeah, I was going to, so I don't really keep up with Halo, but to be, when this season started, wasn't it like super popping?

Yeah. Wasn't like, this season? This season. Yeah, like in the beginning. Yeah, because of all the, because of. Not at this season, the beginning of the whole HCS you're talking about. This iteration of HCS. Maybe it was.

I don't, maybe. Like before I feel like before we had our team we do now like so there was something with HALO where everyone was getting crazy viewers It was in the viewer list on Twitch It was at the beginning of it was at the beginning of it was like that yeah There was a lot of hype there was more I feel like there was more hype for this season than there was for last season Killed that hype because I remember I mean I was downloading Halo like They they they didn't do something I think in order to have a have an arena shooter do well You've got to have something else attached to it I think I think you have you have

have to have some sort of BR, some sort of, some sort of something. Yeah, yeah. There was rumors that a third party developer was developing a Halo BR with all of, you know, three for three's packaging. They sent them all the shit. They make a BR out of it. But that project, apparently like a year into development fell through. So they ended up not releasing a, so Halo Infinite is a campaign.

And it's a campaign you have to pay for. and a multiplayer that you don't have to. And the viewer, I mean, the player drop off is just, yeah. Yeah, everyone just eventually just was like, fuck it. Yeah. But, yeah. I do remember in the beginning. I do remember that show.

Yeah, it was popping. I know because the skins were fucking popping, right? So, again, it's not a matter. It's, I mean, we're sort of witnessing what happens when there's no innovation and there is no new, I mean, I don't know how many, how many different maps have they gone through how many iterations of HCS have they gone through? I don't know.

I think professional Halo, like competitive Halo, I think it's still great. I think watching the game is great. It's just how do you bring in the casual player? Yeah. Because if you get too competitive, then you're getting like,

then it's getting like, it's hard to be too competitive with it because then you're only, you know, focusing on a small group of your player base. Like I feel like back then Like I mean you used to get Halo with your Xbox and shit Yeah you know what I'm saying

It's kind of like you were forced to play Halo It's the only game you had That was the best You get like a yeah Halo and Gears of War or something Yeah I got called there two of my Did you uh have you guys played

The remastered Gears of War shit Or whatever? No reloaded Yeah I haven't played it gears No I mean I used to play back in the days Not my thing I don't like third person

Third person All I did was try to wall bounce, wall bounce, get up on you, shot one pump shock, and if not it was a lack to me. That's how I found out about game battles. Like, not even I was playing. It was my oldest brother. He was playing game battles like years of War I. Really?

Yeah. Who, Big Zach? Big Zach, yeah. He was running that shit up in high school. I had a friend that was really good at it too. I mean, I loved watching our team, our old team. Yeah. I didn't know.

Explosives to one of my favorite sports players in the history of fucking. Explosive mental summons. Mental, of course, summons. What's that trio was Those boys were just getting there Getting there Yeah especially They farmed the whole league

Yeah Dude they just farmed Yeah Mental would just They would just They would just They just racked up all the prize money Till it died

And they were like All right whatever All right I hope they're all doing well They're like find a different game Yeah I mean too This is ours I talked to I see a few months ago

Because he's doing well He's doing well in years Right now Like like He's still streaming Yeah he's still streaming and still playing it like focusing a lot on

on gears right now so hopefully when reloaded drops like he gets a you know like he's that guy that's already been playing it for a while so I wish him the best of luck that team was so fun to watch man yeah yeah yeah maniac Eldon Ring Marathon

how's that gone? He beat it right? Yeah he beat it last night he's still alive I saw yeah I don't know why he's gonna miss it man I think he said I think he said some I was watching yesterday he's like well I might as well sleep on camera saying live

I don't know why they want to tear this shit down what he's he's gonna he's gonna stop streaming and go home he's sleeping why I don't know why he did this

he goes Alice texting me and said so apparently he's not leaving question mark I was like what he goes he beat it I've been getting shit sleep

shit food and the chat goes shit sleep you've been sleeping all day he goes Can we talk about one thing, chat? You guys see me laying in my fucking bed.

It's on video. Why? He goes, why am I? No, why am I arguing with you guys? I am so surprised how he locked in. Like, he, he, I did not think Nick would like a game like this. But then it was part of me, it was like, I see how he gets with me. He plays Minecraft with you.

Like, he nerds out. So I was like maybe if he taps into that and like third boss in he was like wired like Yo chat where do I find where do I find this sword and this upgrade and he starts telling him about like tiny little things like what you can get that and he he he he I think he fought I think he I think he got up to like 400 or 350 deaths or something with milania and when he finally beat it it was fucking insane and yeah he beat it he beat the game last year oh did I choke Chad and then he would die and he said if I look over at chat And you guys tell me to fucking heal

I'm I'm banning everyone Shit like that No it was such a it was a fun How long did you go for how many days? Uh I think he beat it like a hundred Did he request some time off to be able to do this Without showing up to content?

I'm gonna check in on the hundreds Well technically he showed up like he's here right now No he's not 117 what? Pam you don't know how it works Like a man look at shooy man He's enjoying all this Yeah it was like a hundred 17 hours

What about his cat? Where was his cat? Yeah, where is his neighbor's watching him Oh okay Oh, 117 or 119 hours or something like that, I believe. Damn. What's the death counter? The final count.

How many deaths total? He's got over a thousand. Where's the death count? Yeah, it was death. Well, I mean, he stopped playing. So, death counter off. I think if you do exclamation deaths in that chat. You should just add a death.

1600. 1807? 1,087. 1,087. 187. Damn. Yeah. That's a lot of pain right there, man.

These old games are no joke. But, I mean, every, I think he beat like four bosses, and when he beat them, he would put his hand up to the camera and his hand would... Really? Yeah, yeah, like... From the adrenaline? From the adrenaline? Yeah. I wanted to put a heart rate monitor on him, but he said he didn't want it because he, as soon as he puts a heart rate monitor on, his heart rate spikes just because he knows it's on.

What? That's what he said. I always say that to it. That's what I would say, too. I was like, don't mind. I'm a little nervous. No and I fucking just sugar bombs Uh-oh, uh-oh

There's some movement Dude, I couldn't do it I'd wake up and I'd wait Really sleeping I'd wake up and there's a tent I'd be like oh shit chat Did he sleep in that 10 at all? Yeah he slept in it

He slept until like 630 It was probably so hot What like nine hours? Dude, you did the whole night? No, no no No Even if you have a fan in there like You're blowing hot ass air

You can do about that The only thing that The only thing that's good for is to keep the air fresh and not stagnant. The only time that shit feels good is when you come out of the house in the morning, you just feel that feet just beaming on you for about two minutes, 17 seconds, and you want to come back in because then that's when sweat starts. It was a, yeah, it was a very fun experience, though, and I'm glad he had fun, but I'm not doing it for him ever again.

That shit was fun Good for him I don't know That game to me is just like I wouldn't even know where to begin to like a game like that I just You know what I mean? Like I just I just can't

Once you beat that first boss though It's like wait that was fun Is it like uh is it like Oh crea is the breath of the wild No Because Breath of the Wild like it's Well I guess Did you ever beat Breath of Wild?

No Yeah you just like explored and shit Yeah No I fought some motherfuckers they get fucked up as usual obviously I don't know if you would like it and it takes a certain kind of person to like it

but once you like it you're like holy shit I want to do that again for real the World Series of Warzone has been announced for October 1st with no crowd again again this is one of those things

and apparently like I've I follow a bunch of people not just from the United States but you know war zone players from across the world okay and I saw this one dude from Mexico saying that last time, last, last, last war zone event was in Vegas and that the crowd was like 40% full and not all the way through.

So they're like, yeah, we can't understand why why there's no crowd this time around. Yeah, unfortunately. But. Thank you. But if if the reason why you don't want to have a crowd, I mean, there shouldn't be a reason why you don't want a crowd in one of your e-sports games. It's Call of Duty, right? The World Series Awards is a call of duty event?

Right? It's not a CDL. It's not a CDL. It's not a CDO. Yeah, it's a call a duty event. So not an EWC email. Crowd subsidizes a little bit of that cost. So for you to not take that cost on makes no sense to me.

You know what I'm saying? If you don't take the ticket sales, if you don't take the concession sales, if you don't take the merch sales, if you don't take like all of the, yo, here's a here's a cry for, for, for. for help almost. If you guys don't want to run those events, call Optic. We don't have like an official like team, right? Obviously my man Z-Laynor, you know, put the team together, right, to compete. But like, you know, from an actual pro's perspective, like we can still throw a really, really good event, you know what I'm saying?

Like, we'll bring some of our personalities. We'll have the watch party there. Like, man, we can bring in the crowd. All you got to do is dial that number. Call Peterman. Better call Saul or Peterman. I don't know, man. Have you watched any of the World Series of War Zones,

like religiously? You keep up with it. The only time I watch is like when Biffle's playing. Oh, yeah, I watch Stoke up. Yeah, I watch the highlights of it for sure. Whoever if I know someone that's playing other than that, I tap into Hector, see how he's doing. Isn't it?

Aren't they playing it on Rebirth Island? I'll tap in, go see with slags. So they're playing a resurgence for now World Series? Not Warzone I mean? Oh, I think so. No, it's World Series of Warzone. What are you players? Oh, no, Bernan.

Okay. So 300,000. Look, I have a thought. I have a thought. I have a thought for what the boys can do, the HALA boys. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. No, I don't think they would.

I don't know. They don't get checked out, just like seeing how they update this game. Yeah, engagements. But I don't know formal, like, to learn a whole new one. How do me Zen and Seth getting here? You can. Just fucking sign up. Has Seth hit them up?

There's qualifiers, no. You just qualify. No, I just want to be gifted this spot to show up. Yeah. Look all that qualifying. Yeah, how do I get there and just compete for the bread? Well, you got to do the qualifier so you can practice. All right, well, Godspeed to all the war zone.

people in the Warzone community. Yeah, the Warzone community is not happy. No. Yeah, dude. They are very unhappy. I wouldn't be happy either, dude. I wonder if Warzone players would rather play a $750,000 tournament with a crowd. Take away 250, make the event happen.

Yeah. And they play for a little bit less. I think that would be short-sighted if that wasn't one of the things that they offered. I think, you know, crowds are important, period. And the more you train people to, not train, but the more you give people a great experience, the more likely it is that they are going to come back and experience the other ones. I think it is outrageous that Call the Duty multiplayer, the CDL, and World Series of Warzone are two separate entities.

I think that's outrageous. Those should be, the World Series of Warzone finals and Cod champs should be, looped. Yes. One of the thousand. No question. There should be a

call of duty con, a call of duty convention every year and that should be where the new game is announced. Maybe play test the new game fun experience.

Yeah, CodXP for fans, Cod champs, World Series of Warzone. I mean, that is how you bring people together and get interested. Maybe give something

to the zombies kids as well. Yes, exactly. Like there's two, much shit that call the duty offers to not have some sort of unity like you hire hire one guy to bring it all together like if that's what it takes there's so many ideas yeah I know there is just and there's I mean there's there's they can't talk about this all that call the duty convention but that open to the public bro you

know how many people would go to that called duty con call a duty con I just not XP man it's already got the IP yeah kind we have that IP also they have call Duty XP S&IP. They have Warzone SNIP. They have Call of Duty CDL as an IP. They have zombies as an IP and we're choosing to not take advantage of the history. You know what I mean?

I don't know. It's it's there's got to be some mathematics that that are happening back there. I don't know. Maybe they're sunseting. I don't think they will be sunsetting. Wars Zone is too big and too good. It's a good mode. It's a good mode. Davis are you doing anything this offseason?

Yeah. You should do like a switcher like two pros, one retired pro multiplayer, am, content creator something like that. Yeah, we could do it. Imagine going to a tournament and then like

you go what to do, oh it's me and Pam and then you're two, you have two random teammates and everybody's a switcheroo land would be crazy. Bro. You guys pull up and you're like who do we got and it's like two 11 year olds. Magicly, magically, magically

fucking Seth has Dashy and Shotsy And Zinn has his Orr somehow some way It's a hitch tournament That's why Somehow Some way

Seth is winning again You can't say sure Out of 1,200 people He got Shati I'm sure Bose won my first tournament ever So I don't want to hear it about me I did basically have my real team Which tournament was a

Muddler for two throwback Was it killer on my shit? Killer Ricky Mirre thing Yeah That's a vibe The vivious team In familiarity Game 5 round 7

Which is the last round Dude those comms must have been so fucking funny Do you have those? Like yeah yeah I've got I made a whole video about that No I'm saying Like you have like every game com like

I don't think so No You guys didn't have it hooked up that No What? 2016 No We gotta do the hex question

Quarters Invitational for the first time this year. Still to figure that out. Anyway, long story short, ladies and gentlemen, that is going to do it. Wait, what about Optic Day? Yeah, what's Optic Day? Hold on, we're getting to it. Oh, he's about the end day. I heard it.

No, no, no. I said that's going to do it. But remember, guys, Optic Legacy Week is happening August 11th through the 15th. It's five day of old school Call of Duty streams, past and present. Optic members competing. I made a couple of phone calls yesterday to make sure that we have. the best chance of having a dope-ass event. Also, as usual, and as per usual, on Updick Day, August 14th, we're going to have a sick,

sick-ass drop. We have a football jersey that's got Allen in like gray. It's fucking dope. We obviously have a process happening that day, too. Like, dude, it is going to be a good week. August 11th through the 15th. Make sure to tune in. It is brought to you by Cash App.

It is going to be a fire. We'll see you guys next week. Bye. Please.