FaZe Clan has announced the acquisition of Anthony “Methodz” Zinni to its roster for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. He will join Dillon “Attach” Price, Thomas “ZooMaa” Paparatto, James “Replays” Crowder and Preston “Priestahh” Greiner. The announcement came just minutes after OpTic Gaming tweeted a thank you message to Methodz, officially announcing that the team had parting ways with him.
We would like to thank Anthony "@Methodz" Zinni for his time on our #OpTicCoD roster and we wish him the best in his future endeavors. pic.twitter.com/TmYOIYAxuL
— OpTic Gaming™ (@OpTic) October 8, 2018
With Treyarch announcing that Black Ops 4 will shift from the traditional 4v4 setting to 5v5, all eyes have been on FaZe and other top teams to see what moves will be made. FaZe Clan is retaining its roster from Call of Duty: World War II, which took home first place during the Call of Duty World League stage 1 playoffs and finished third at CWL Champs in August.
I’m beyond excited to be home @FaZeClan #FaZeUp pic.twitter.com/Pwxg8LNgmw
— Methodz (@Methodz) October 8, 2018
Methodz is coming off of a breakout year in WWII. He started the year alongside Doug “Censor” Martin with Next Threat. After a top 16 performance at CWL Dallas, Rise Nation picked up Methodz. This new squad saw instant success with top 3 finishes at CWL New Orleans and Birmingham and a first place at CWL Atlanta. However, the team decided to go in a different direction after a disappointing top 8 placing in the stage 1 playoffs. After a short stint with Team Kaliber, OpTic Gaming signed Methodz for the rest of the season. A top 24 place finish at CWL Champs left Methodz’s future in question.
FaZe had an up-and-down WWII season. They earned a fourth place finish to start the year at CWL Dallas and a championship during stage 1 playoffs. However, three top 12 finishes at major events led to fans calling for a team change. Instead, the team responded with a role change. Replays moved from the main Assault Rifle player to the Flex, while Priestahh took over the AR duties. FaZe found the answer to its respawn game-mode problems, going 14-3 in Hardpoint and 8-5 is Search and Destroy at CWL Champs.
Black Ops 4 is set to release Friday, October 12. The first major event will be CWL Las Vegas from December 7-9.