OpTic Gaming has won the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 at 2025 Esports World Cup, beating Vancouver Surge 4-0 in the grand final to become the 11th unique champion at the Esports World Cup 2025.
After strong performances across the four days of competition, OpTic Gaming are the champions of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 at the Esports World Cup 2025. The American organisation, which finished in the top four in last year’s event, capped off an incredible end to the year with the win. In doing so, they beat Vancouver Surge in a Best-of-Seven without dropping a game, having also beaten them in the Call of Duty League Championship final just weeks ago.
The tournament, which is one of the biggest on the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 calendar, saw 18 of the world’s best Call of Duty teams head to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to battle it out over a $1,800,000 prize pool, of which OpTic Gaming will now take home $600,000. The win also secures their qualification for EWC 2026.
The victory sees OpTic win their first Esports World Cup title, a welcome victory alongside the CDL Championship win, having faced a tough start to the 2025 season. Struggling to overcome those difficulties, OpTic made two changes between last year’s event and this year’s, bringing in Cuyler “Huke” Garland and Mason “Mercules” Ramsey, who both pulled off big performances in order to deliver their team 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 Team OpTic’s Mason “Mercules” 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 following the impressive 4-0 sweep in the final. He will receive an additional $10,000 and the MVP medal to recognise his achievements.
“Undeniably, the players on this team are unbelievably talented,” said MVP Anthony “Shotzzy” Cuevas-Castro. “It feels like we are cheating at times!”
OpTic Gaming earns 1000 Club Championship points for their victory. This is OpTic Gaming’s first victory at the Esports World Cup 2025, and puts them in joint ninth place as things stand. OpTic Gaming still have chances to secure a crucial second top eight finish during the remaining events at the EWC 25.
