OpTic Gaming are the twelfth, and final team to secure a direct invite at ESL One: Cologne 2017.
ESL have issued OpTic Gaming the final direct invite for ESL One: Cologne 2017. The American representatives will join fifteen other teams at the Laxness Arena in Cologne, Germany on July 7th-9th to duke it out for a $250,000 prize pool. Formatting and scheduling for the event has not yet been revealed, however if the event is going to use prior iterations' format then we'll see four equal groups fighting it out in a best-of-one Swiss setting, followed by best-of-three deciders and play-offs of the same format.
The decision to invite OpTic Gaming to the LAN finals was met with ample criticism from both faces within the scene and fans. Many thought it to be peculiar that the Green Wall was invited over Gambit Gaming, for instance, a team that has been showing high-end results as of late.
Below are all currently known participants for ESL One: Cologne 2017:
 FaZe Clan |  Virtus.pro |  Fnatic |  Natus Vincere |
| Ninjas in Pyjamas |  SK Gaming |  G2 Esports |  North |
 Cloud9 | Immortals | mousesports | |
| European Qualifier #1 | European Qualifier #2 | North American Qualifier #1 | Chinese Qualifier #1 |
Regarding the team's recent performances, OpTic have had a mixed bag of performances, largely due to an unstable roster. After the departure of 
Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz the organisation has struggled to find an in-game leader for the team, leading to inconsistency. Despite the aforementioned, the team was able to grab second place at cs_summit and third at IEM Sydney 2017 all the while having the team's Coach, James "Hazed" Cobb substituting as a fifth.
Image courtesy of ESL
