RIYADH: OpTic Gaming have won the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 contest at the 2025 Esports World Cup, beating Vancouver Surge 4-0 in the final to become the 11th unique champion at the tournament.
The American team, which finished in the top four last year, beat Vancouver Surge in a best-of-seven matchup on Sunday without dropping a game, having also beaten them in the Call of Duty League Championship final a few weeks ago.
The tournament, which is one of the biggest on the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 calendar, had 18 of the world’s best teams battle for a prize pool of over $1.8 million.
OpTic Gaming took home $600,000 and qualified for the EWC in 2026. This is their first world title, and welcome relief after facing a tough start to the 2025 season.
Struggling to overcome those difficulties, OpTic made two changes for this year’s event, bringing in Cuyler “Huke” Garland and Mason “Mercules” Ramsey, who both pulled off big performances to help win the trophy.
“Well, last time we played them, we knew we probably should have won 5-1, so we just honed in on our mistakes and made that look easy,” said Ramsey.
“Honestly, once we won against Team Heretics, we knew we were winning it as long as we just played our game. Definitely proud of myself, super thankful to my teammates. You guys are the best in the world.”
Anthony “Shotzzy” Cuevas-Castro was named the SONY MVP and will receive an additional $10,000. “Undeniably, the players on this team are unbelievably talented,” he said. “It feels like we are cheating at times.”
OpTic Gaming earns 1000 Club Championship points for their victory and are in joint ninth place.
