OpTic Gaming defended its Esports World Cup title in Paris, winning the Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 tournament with a 5-3 Grand Final victory over Team Heretics after taking last year’s event with Black Ops 6. Teamwork carried the roster through the bracket, but Anthony “Shotzzy” Cuevas-Castro repeatedly produced the kind of individual plays that can flip a map in seconds.
The submachine gun player ended the tournament with 655 kills. Five moments in particular showed how his movement, pressure, aim, utility, and defensive awareness helped the Green Wall finish on top.
1. Shotzzy breaks Project Notorious with movement
Shotzzy showed off his movement mechanics during OpTic’s group-stage match against Project Notorious. On Hacienda Hardpoint, OpTic had already built a comfortable lead by the fourth hill, but Project Notorious still had a defensive setup to break.
Shotzzy attacked from the Boathouse side and quickly found two kills. Rather than pause for cover or wait for support, he bounced over the rock and caught a third opponent from above. The elimination itself was impressive, but the follow-up was just as important: Shotzzy immediately moved toward the upper balcony overlooking mid-map and the next objective.
That decision put his attention on the next fight and the opponents’ likely spawn rather than on celebrating the three-piece. An OpTic Scump post captured the sequence with the simple description, “He’s in flow.”
2. Relentless pressure shuts down 100 Thieves
The winner’s semi-final against 100 Thieves featured another example of Shotzzy forcing the opposing team into bad positions. During the deciding Sake Search and Destroy map, he opened round three with an ace and later secured the final kill after his teammates created the opening.
His pressure continued around the B bombsite. By holding control of the area, Shotzzy forced 100 Thieves to take wider routes, where OpTic’s assault rifle players were waiting. The defensive setup left little room for the Thieves to mount a clean attack.
Shotzzy finished the nine-round map with 10 kills and three deaths, posting a 2.13 Search and Destroy kill/death ratio for the series. He did not earn any scorestreaks, yet OpTic’s coordinated pressure was still enough to shut down the map.
3. A 36-kill Hardpoint against FaZe Clan
OpTic met FaZe Clan in the quarter-finals, and Shotzzy immediately took responsibility for the opening Den Hardpoint. His rapid-fire eliminations opened lanes for OpTic and made it difficult for FaZe to mount a push toward the hill.
Shotzzy also made the smaller fights count. When a teammate weakened an opponent, he was ready to finish the engagement before that player could recover. Those trades helped OpTic keep control of the objective while denying FaZe the chance to reset.
By the end of the map, Shotzzy had recorded 36 kills and spent one minute and 45 seconds on the Hardpoint. OpTic won the map, with its SMG player leading the way in the kill column.
4. One grenade breaks Team Heretics’ hold
Call of Duty moves too quickly for utility to dominate every engagement, but a well-timed grenade can still open an objective. Shotzzy demonstrated that during Frequency Hardpoint against Team Heretics.
The match had become a back-and-forth contest when the teams reached the first hill in the later stages. Shotzzy cooked a frag grenade and caught two opponents with it. He then added a third kill, wiping out the immediate threat around the objective.
The grenade only gave OpTic a short window of hill time, but the team was already controlling the spawns for the next hill. That positioning let OpTic keep building its lead and removed the opening Heretics needed for a comeback.
5. A last-second defensive stand in the Grand Final
Shotzzy’s most important defensive sequence came on Den Overload in the Grand Final against Team Heretics. OpTic had controlled the map with a punishing spawn trap, but Heretics finally broke free with two minutes left in the second half.
Three OpTic players were eliminated, leaving Shotzzy as the last defender between Heretics and more points at the B capture point. He found the first kill, followed it with a sliding headshot that removed two more attackers, and then finished off the final player in the push.
The stop cleared the pressure from B and kept the score from getting away from OpTic. Team Heretics managed one more capture, but it was not enough to prevent OpTic from reaching match point and completing its title defense.
OpTic opened the best-of-nine final with Frequency Hardpoint 250-198 and Sake Search and Destroy 6-1. Team Heretics answered with Scar Overload 6-5 and Scar Hardpoint 250-241, but OpTic regained control on Raid Search and Destroy 6-1 and Den Overload 6-2. Heretics took Den Search and Destroy 6-4 before OpTic closed on Den Hardpoint 250-183.
Across all five plays, Shotzzy’s impact went beyond raw aim. He used movement to create openings, applied pressure to restrict enemy options, traded efficiently, turned a grenade into objective control, and held the line when OpTic needed one last defensive stand.
The title defense also earned OpTic $600,000 and 1,000 Esports World Cup club points. Team Heretics received $320,000 and 750 points for finishing second.
Shotzzy’s tournament footage
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Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
Developed by Treyarch, Raven Software
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is a first-person shooter set in 2035, co-developed by Treyarch and Raven Software. The game features three main modes: a cooperative campaign playable with up to four players or solo, multiplayer with 6v6 and 20v20 modes, and the round-based Zombies mode. Multiplayer features a perk system split into combat specialties, weapon prestige progression, and scorestreak rewards.
- Genre Shooter
- Platforms Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5, Xbox One
- Perspective First person
- Modes Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative
- Release November 14, 2025
- Publisher Activision
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Age Rating
