When the VCT Stage 1 Challengers main event kicks off this weekend, viewers may be surprised to see a new name on the team sheet. No longer competing under the Envy banner, partner organization OpTic Gaming has taken over the former's VALORANT roster. Fans don't need to fret, though, as this doesn't mean that the team has been sold off; at this point, it's all just optics (sorry) and brand rep.

The two esports organizations had signed a merger back in November 2021. This led to competing under a joint brand for the Call of Duty pro scene as OpTic Texas while the Dallas Empire brand was retired. However, Envy's VALORANT team and the Dallas Fuel squad in the Overwatch league had kept their branding. Now, though, the naming conventions will change as the VALORANT squad will now be brandishing the OpTic nametags for the VCT 2022 season.

Envy-slash-OpTic is a top VALORANT squad in NA, having been one of four teams that received direct invites to the main stage of VCT Stage 1 Challengers without having to go through the Open Qualifier rounds. Their direct qualification came as a result of their fantastic 2021 season, which saw them represent NA at the international VALORANT Champions tournament alongside Sentinels and Cloud9 Blue.

The roster will still consist of: in-game leader Pujan “FNS” Mehta; Jimmy “Marved” Nguyen; Austin “crashies” Roberts; Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker; and Victor Wong. At VCT Stage 1 Challengers, OpTic will go up against Rise for their first match, followed by NRG. Interestingly, OpTic and NRG had previously partnered together before the current Envy-OpTic merger, which saw them compete as OpTic Chicago for COD. Org and brand business aside, fans will be excited to see these top VALORANT talents compete again, regardless of the colors they're representing.