Following the dismal performance of OpTic in ESL Pro League Season 10 group stage, ending in last place, Mathias “MSL” Lauridsen announced that he would be benching himself from the lineup. Soon after, the official announcement of the disbandment of the entire roster was made.

Of late, OpTic’s performance at international tournaments has been quite erratic and disappointing. The team finished in the top 12 at DreamHack Masters: Malmö 2019 after suffering defeat at the hands of Mousesports. They’d lost their form ever since they won DreamHack Summer in June.

OpTic found itself in a tough sport recently, after issues with its parent organization resulted in OpTic being put up for sale.

In June, Immortals Gaming Club (IGC) acquired OpTic’s parent company- Infinite Esports and Entertainment. Since IGC owns MIBR, which is another CS:GO team, IGC needed to get rid of the OpTic roster owing to Valve’s rules in the case of conflict of interest.

As the situation worsened for the OpTic team, the roster came to the decision of branching out and seeking for offers individually.

“I have decided to bench myself. When I joined Optic, the plan was to build a strong team and buy out strong players, but because of optic getting sold, that changed and we have constantly been in a position where we couldn’t build a proper team.” said MSL, OpTic team’s in-game leader. He also pointed out to the recent discord between OpTic and the team regarding the contract, as one of the main reasons why he benched himself.
“When I joined OpTic, the plan was to build a strong team and buy out strong players, but because of OpTic getting sold, that changed and we have constantly been in a position where we couldn’t build a proper team” said Mathias “MSL” Lauridsen.

“I hope that we can get some closure on this contract situation in the near future because this isn’t helping us perform” said Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke.

Veteran player René “cajunb” Borg has returned to North, departing from the Optic squad. His brief stint as a member of the team bore little fruit as Optic was knocked out of ESL One New York and DreamHack Masters Malmö.

Veteran OpTic members: Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen, Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke, Rene “TeSeS” Madsen, Mathias “MSL” Lauridsen and Casper “ruggah” Due (coach) are all now looking for a new team.

I have decided to bench myself. When I joined Optic, the plan was to build a strong team and buy out strong players, but because of optic getting sold, that changed and we have constantly been in a position where we couldn’t build a proper team. 1/2

— Mathias Lauridsen (@MSLcsgo) October 11, 2019

We have chosen to disband the OpTic lineup because there is no future in OpTic. I'm ready to be sold individually. I strongly feel like this is the best choice. My focus is to get my individual skill up while I wait. My DM's are open or you can contact OpTic @ paistit@gmail.com.

— Kristian Wienecke (@k0nfig) October 11, 2019

As of now, it is unclear whether or not OpTic will be purchasing another CS:GO roster. However, taking into consideration the rules regarding conflict of interest, this seems unlikely.