NRG signs former OpTic Gaming Gears of War roster

Under OpTic Gaming, the core of the roster won pretty much every tournament they played at and were near flawless for over two years. The roster, consisting of Gilbert “Xplosive” Rojo, Alex “SuMuNs” Ascencion, Brian “SoLuRs” Valenzuela, Arody “Praized” Dipre, Billy “MentaL” Putnam Jr., and coach Nick “Ashes” Ridgeway, left OpTic Gaming on July 2, the same day the organisation announced its acquisition of the Los Angeles franchise spot in the upcoming Call of Duty league.

The core of the team – Xplosive, Mental and Sumuns – won 17 of the 19 Gears of War 4 events they played while representing OpTic, including the four final events of the season alongside Solurs and Praized, both formerly of Echo Fox.

On July 9, eight days after being released from OpTic Gaming, the quintet joined TOX Gaming and represented them in the ELEAGUE Gears Summer Series Invitational, the first Gears of War 5 event in which they took home the first-place prize of $80,000.

Gears of War 5 is set to release September 6 on Xbox and PC, though the first event of the year is yet to be announced.