OpTic Gaming Gears of War player reveals plans to switch to competitive CoD for Black Ops 4

Calum Patterson

Legendary Gears of War player Billy ‘MentaL’ Putnam, a 15x champion, has revealed he wants to make the switch to competitive Call of Duty for the upcoming Black Ops 4 season.

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MentaL is one of the most decorated Gears of War players of all time, having been part of the OpTic Gaming dynasty since mid 2016, a team which rarely ever loses.

But, despite his team’s dominance in Gears esports, it appears the lure of the new Call of Duty title has tempted MentaL away, as the current Gears of War Pro Circuit season winds down.

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Having just won CWL San Diego at the end of September, their sixth win in seven major tournaments attended, MentaL is looking to pastures new.

The Pro Circuit season finals are still to come, as well as a charity invitational on November 17-18, with a $200,000 prize pool split 50/50 between the winning team and a charity of their choice.

The first event of the Black Ops 4 season will take place on December 7-9, at CWL Vegas, so MentaL may have one eye on finding a team and preparing for this event.

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He is the first current Gears of War professional to voice his wish to move to CoD, but follows in the footsteps of numerous Halo players, including the full world championship winning Splyce roster, and legendary Halo player Brad ‘Frosty’ Bergstrom.

Having seen a number of top esports organizations leave the Gears of War esports scene – as well as Halo esports – it isn’t necessarily a good sign for either of these esports, that their top players are trying to move into another console esport.

All three of them, CoD, Halo and Gears, have their tournaments organized by MLG, making the transition somewhat easier, and the raw skill of these players making the transition is certainly respected by their fellow console esports professionals.

Frosty has already secured himself a spot on a top roster, playing on Enigma6 alongside General, Diabolic, Kade and KiSMET.

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About The Author

Calum is Dexerto's Managing Editor, based in Scotland. Joining Dexerto in 2017, Calum has years of experience covering esports, gaming and online entertainment, and now leads the team to deliver the best coverage in these areas. An expert on all things Twitch and gaming influencers, he's also an expert in popular shooters like Apex Legends, CS2 and Call of Duty. You can contact Calum at calum.patterson@dexerto.com.