OpTic Texas have signed Call of Duty Challengers star Daniel ‘Ghosty’ Rothe to replace Indervir ‘iLLeY’ Dhaliwal for the foreseeable future, confirming prior reports from Dexerto that they were after the prolific amateur player.
OpTic have been embroiled in roster turmoil almost constantly since the culmination of the 2022 Vanguard season, with both iLLeY and Brandon ‘Dashy’ Otell dropped multiple times since then before being brought back into the team, as well as Scump’s retirement following their first week of Major 2 qualifiers.
Having brought in Huke to replace Scump for the remainder of Major 2, they went to the LAN event in Boston with minimal expectations, having played well in qualifiers but with fans still acknowledging that this was a new team with things to work on.
They ended up placing 4th, knocked out after consecutive losses to Minnesota Røkkr and eventual runners-up LA Thieves, but still a considerable improvement on their 9-12th finish at Major 1.
Despite that, on February 8, iLLeY announced that he was a restricted free agent going forward, no longer representing OpTic Texas from Major 3 onwards.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
Restricted F/A, bang my line if you want to win.
— iLLeY (@iLLeYYY) February 9, 2023
While rumors have swirled it has now been confirmed that, as first reported by Dexerto, OpTic have signed Ghosty to replace iLLeY, dipping into Challengers in a move that will come as a big surprise to many who have followed OpTic over the years.
Ghosty most recently won the Call of Duty Challengers Open at Major 2 with Decimate Gaming, as well as placing 2nd in the Elite Stage 1 playoffs and consistently placing towards the top in Challengers competition.
He was on track to make his CDL debut by signing for the Florida Mutineers, who are undergoing some mass roster changes of their own, but our sources stated that he didn’t end up signing with them and the situation changed drastically when OpTic started asking around about potential amateur talent to bring into the fold.
As it stands at the time of writing, Florida Mutineers do not have their roster locked in after Ghosty’s plans changed.