MerK

MerK
Retired as Player
MerK
Background Information
Name	Joseph DeLuca
Country of Birth	; United States
Birthday	June 15, 1993 (age 31)
Residency	NANorth America
Competitive
Team	⁠⁠Activision
Role	; Caster
Input	Controller
Platform	PC
PSN ID	MerK_JJD
XBL Gamertag	MxrK nV
Social Media & Links

Overview

Tournament Results

Statistics

Casting History

Joseph "MerK" DeLuca is a retired Call of Duty esports player, currently a caster for Activision.

Team History

Combine Role Swaps:Yes|No

Dates:Approx|Exact

	Team	Start	End		Notes
NA	⁠⁠OpTic Gaming	Aug 20102010-08-28^[1]	≈Mar 2012≈2012-03-??	≈1yr 6mo	ejel
NA	⁠⁠LeveraGe	≈Nov 2010≈2010-11-??	≈Nov 2010≈2010-11-??	≈1mo	ejel
NA	⁠⁠LeveraGe	≈Jan 2011≈2011-01-??	≈Feb 2011≈2011-02-??	≈1mo 9d	ejel
NA	⁠⁠apeX eSports NA	≈Mar 2012≈2012-03-??	May 20122012-05-24^[2]	≈2mo 23d	ejel
NA	⁠⁠OpTic Gaming	May 20122012-05-24^[5]	Sep 20132013-09-01^[3]	1yr 3mo	ejel
NA	⁠⁠Team Envy	Sep 20132013-09-04^[6]	≈Sep 2015≈2015-09-??	≈2yr 27d	ejel
NA	⁠⁠Team JusTus	Apr 20152015-04-10^[7]	May 20152015-05-23	1mo 13d	On Loan ejel
NA	⁠⁠Automatic Reload	May 20152015-05-26^[8]	Jun 20152015-06-22	27d	ejel
NA	⁠⁠Nation	Nov 20152015-11-26^[10]	Dec 20152015-12-10^[9]	14d	ejel
NA	⁠⁠Cloud9	Dec 20152015-12-10^[12]	Jan 20162016-01-06^[11]	27d	ejel
NA	⁠⁠Team Liquid	Jan 20162016-01-06^[14]	Apr 20162016-04-29^[13]	3mo 23d	ejel
CDL	⁠⁠Activision	Apr 20162016-04-29^[15]	≈Dec 2021≈2021-12-07	≈5yr 7mo	ejel
CDL	⁠⁠Activision	Mar 20222022-03-02^[16]	Present	2yr 9mo	ej

	Team	Start	End		Notes
NA	⁠⁠OpTic Gaming	Aug 20102010-08-28^[1]	≈Mar 2012≈2012-03-??	≈1yr 6mo	ejel
NA	⁠⁠LeveraGe	≈Nov 2010≈2010-11-??	≈Nov 2010≈2010-11-??	≈1mo	ejel
NA	⁠⁠LeveraGe	≈Jan 2011≈2011-01-??	≈Feb 2011≈2011-02-??	≈1mo 9d	ejel
NA	⁠⁠apeX eSports NA	≈Mar 2012≈2012-03-??	May 20122012-05-24^[2]	≈2mo 23d	ejel
NA	⁠⁠OpTic Gaming	May 20122012-05-24^[5]	Sep 20132013-09-01^[3]	1yr 3mo	ejel
NA	⁠⁠Team Envy	Sep 20132013-09-04^[6]	Apr 20152015-04-10	1yr 7mo	ejel
NA	⁠⁠Team Envy	Apr 20152015-04-10	May 20152015-05-23	1mo 13d	Loaned Out ejel
NA	⁠⁠Team JusTus	Apr 20152015-04-10^[7]	May 20152015-05-23	1mo 13d	On Loan ejel
NA	⁠⁠Team Envy	May 20152015-05-23	≈Sep 2015≈2015-09-??	≈3mo 9d	ejel
NA	⁠⁠Automatic Reload	May 20152015-05-26^[8]	Jun 20152015-06-22	27d	ejel
NA	⁠⁠Nation	Nov 20152015-11-26^[10]	Dec 20152015-12-10^[9]	14d	ejel
NA	⁠⁠Cloud9	Dec 20152015-12-10^[12]	Jan 20162016-01-06^[11]	27d	ejel
NA	⁠⁠Team Liquid	Jan 20162016-01-06^[14]	Apr 20162016-04-29^[13]	3mo 23d	ejel
CDL	⁠⁠Activision	Apr 20162016-04-29^[15]	≈Dec 2021≈2021-12-07	≈5yr 7mo	ejel
CDL	⁠⁠Activision	Mar 20222022-03-02^[16]	Present	2yr 9mo	ej

News

2010
2011
2012
2013
2015
2016
2020
2021
2022

NA	⁠⁠OG	August 28, Merk joins.^[1] e
NA	⁠⁠LvG	November (approx.), MerK joins. e
NA	⁠⁠LvG	November (approx.), MerK leaves. e

NA	⁠⁠LvG	January (approx.), MerK joins. e
NA	⁠⁠LvG	February (approx.), MerK leaves. e

NA	⁠⁠OG	March (approx.), IntaKe, NaDeSHoT, SiDRoC, and Vengeance join. BigTymeR, MerK, Rambo, and Scump leave. e
NA	⁠⁠apX.NA	March (approx.), BigTymeR, MerK, Rambo, and Scump join. e
NA	⁠⁠apX.NA	May 24, BigTymeR, MerK, Rambo, and Scump leave.^[2] e
NA	⁠⁠OG	May 24, BigTymeR, MerK, Rambo, and Scump rejoin.^[5] e

NA	⁠⁠OG	September 1, JKap joins. MerK leaves.^[3]^[4] e
NA	⁠⁠ENVY	September 4, MerK joins.^[6] e

NA	⁠⁠ENVY	April 10, MerK is loaned to Team JusTus. e
NA	⁠⁠Jus	April 10, StuDyy joins. MerK is loaned from Team Envy. Lawless and Methodz leave.^[7] e
NA	⁠⁠Jus	May 23, Octane, StuDyy, and TcM leave. MerK's loan from Team Envy ends. e
NA	⁠⁠ENVY	May 23, MerK returns from loan to Team JusTus. e
NA	⁠⁠aR	May 26, Lawless and MerK join. Blfire and FeLonY rejoin.^[8] e
NA	⁠⁠aR	June 22, Team disbands. Blfire, FeLo, Lawless, and MerK leave. e
NA	⁠⁠ENVY	September (approx.), MerK leaves. e
NA	⁠⁠NATI	November 26, KiLLa, MBoZe, MerK, and StuDyy join.^[10] e
NA	⁠⁠NATI	December 10, MerK leaves.^[9] e
NA	⁠⁠C9	December 10, Burns, MerK, Mochila, SiLLY, and stunna (Team Manager) join.^[12] e

NA	⁠⁠C9	January 6, Burns and MerK leave.^[11] e
NA	⁠⁠TL	January 6, Apathy, Burns, MerK, and StuDyy join.^[14] e
NA	⁠⁠TL	April 29, MerK retires.^[13] e
NA	⁠⁠ATVI	April 29, MerK (Caster) joins.^[15] e

CDL

⁠

⁠ATVI

January 20, Maven (Caster) and MerK (Caster) will remain with the team.^[17]

e

CDL	⁠⁠ATVI	February 2, LandO (Caster), Maven (Caster), MerK (Caster), and StuDyy (Caster) will remain with the team.^[18] e
CDL	⁠⁠ATVI	December 7 (approx.), Maven (Caster) and MerK (Caster) leave. e

CDL

⁠

⁠ATVI

March 2, Maven (Caster) and MerK (Caster) rejoin.^[16]

e

Biography[]

Merk played on OpTic Gaming for 3 years and was at one point captain of the competitive team. He was dropped from OpTic Gaming on September 1, 2013. He then joined Team EnVyUs. MerK first joined OpTic Gaming in 2010 as part of their pro team. It wasn't until Black Ops where he would find success with the team. He would bring home 2 championships for OpTic at MLG Columbus and at MLG Orlando and placing in the top 5 at every other tournament.

Modern Warfare 3[]

Once Modern Warfare 3 came out, MerK saw tremendous success winning 6 championships in total, 3 with OpTic, 3 with apeX. The first tournament they won was CoD XP. A 1 million dollar prize pool tournament that saw some of the best teams around the country scratching and clawing their way to the top. But at the end of the battle, OpTic gaming got 1st place taking home $400,000. After CoD XP, MerK switched over to apeX and won 3 straight tournaments in a row before finally coming back on to OpTic Gaming to win 2 more in a row.

Black Ops 2[]

After Modern Warfare 3 ran its course, Black Ops 2 came out. Unfortunately, MerK and the rest of the OpTic squad didn't find the same amount of success that they did in Modern Warfare 3. After placing 7th at two online tournaments, they finally caught a break and took home first at UMG Chicago, the first major LAN tournament in Black Ops 2. From there however, they placed consistently 6th, 3rd,3rd and 3rd. Then, a major announcement happened, MerK was dropped from OpTic Gaming. The news stunned the whole CoD eSports scene. Soon after, JKap replaced MerK and MerK went to EnVyUs.

Ghosts[]

After MerK joined EnVy, the future looked very bright for the team. However, that was not the case. After a couple of disappointing finishes, EnVy got 2nd at CoD Champs falling behind to the juggernaut team compLexity. After a disappointing 10th place finish at UMG Philadelphia, EnVy managed to pick things back up again consistently placing in top 5. At Gfinity 3, EnVy finally managed to take home a 1st place finish. Everybody was excited to see where this new EnVy lineup consisting of MerK, JKap, Formal and NaMeLeSS would go. But at UMG Dallas, EnVy fell short of a 1st place finish after being defeated by Denial.

Advanced Warfare[]

Going into a new Call Of Duty game, Merk, captain of Team EnVyUs and leader of a veteran squad (Clayster, Nameless, Jkap, MerK) was ready to take this new team to victory. Facing high expectations, MerK and his teammates came confident at the first LAN event on CoD AW: MLG Columbus 2014. However, it did not turn how they wanted as the squad finished on a 5th place finish. But MerK stayed confident, practicing even more for his next tournament : UMG Orlando 2015. Sadly for him, the team placed below expected, 9th-12th, and the team had to make a change. This change did not turn as well as planned and MerK had to go through another disappointing placing at the MLG Pro League CoD AW Season Playoffs, where nV ended up 6th. The new squad, with MerK still playing as the objective player and captain, had to, despite the loss, focus again and prepare for the 2015's CoD Champs NA Regionals to hope for a qualification for the 2015's CoD Championship. MerK effectively lead his team to victory and qualification. With CoD Champs around the corner, mistakes were not allowed anymore as MerK and his team went on an intensive practice grind. However, it did not go as planned, and one more time, Team EnVyUs had to deal with what is to date, MerK's worst placing (and first placing out of the podium) at CoD Champs. After this harsh fail, MerK was benched in the MLG Pro League CoD AW Season 2. However, he announced that he will not retire and wants to keep playing Call Of Duty competitively, he also announcing he does not plan on quitting nV, but is open to any proposition concerning a team to play with. He found himself on JusTus alongside TcM, Octane, and StuDyy to compete in Season 2.

Black Ops 3[]

Merk was one of the top players left without an organization going into the Black Ops III season. He ended up teaming with StuDyy, KiLLa, and MBoZe under the name Nation to compete in the 2016 CWL NA Pro Division Qualifying Invitational Tournament. After being defeated by compLexity Gaming and Happy Hour, the team was eliminated from the event. Merk then joined the initial roster for Cloud9. His team once again failed to qualify for the 2016 NA CWL Stage 1 Regular Season through the 2016 CWL NA Pro Division Online Qualifying Tournament. Following the loss, Merk changed teams again. This time he joined Team Liquid as Captain for their first foray into the scene. The team did well as they went through the UMG South Carolina 2016 Open Bracket and took first Place. They went on to place 3-4th Place at UMG South Carolina 2016 after Luminosity Gaming defeated them in the semifinals. Merk stayed with the team through the online Challenger Division events and qualified for 2016 NA CWL Stage 1 Relegation. The team went up 3-0 only to get reverse swept in what would be the final event of Merk's storied career. On April 29, 2016, Merk announced that he was retiring from competitive Call of Duty to join Major League Gaming.

Notable Events Casted/Hosted[]

Trivia[]

MerK is the only player to achieve all podium placings at the first three million-dollar Call of Duty tournaments. He placed first, third and second respectively in 2011, 2013 and 2014.
MerK has a dog named Louie.
In 2012, MerK competed in a Halo 4 event alongside NaDeSHoT, Scump, and Saint. They competed under the OpTic Gaming name and placed in the top 64 (49th-64th).

Achievements[]

This table shows up to the 10 most recent results. For complete results, click here.

MerK Tournament Results
Game	Date	Pl	Prize	Event	TeamDisplay	Roster
	2023-11-28	13 - 16		150K GGCS Kickoff Finals	⁠⁠OMoO	Di3seL • Hutch • MerK • Octane
	2023-11-20	8		150K GGCS Kickoff TF-141 Division	⁠⁠OMoO	H3CZ • Di3seL • Hutch • MerK
	2022-10-16	4	$ 2,000$ 2,000$ 2,000	The Off-Season Black Ops II Invitational	⁠⁠RAMB	Rambo • MerK • Temp • Shotzzy
	2021-05-25	9 - 12		HusKerrs Howl Top Dog Duos Day 2	⁠⁠TEEP	TeeP • MerK
	2021-05-24	13 - 16		HusKerrs Howl Top Dog Duos Day 1	⁠⁠TEEP	TeeP • MerK
	2021-02-08	13 - 16		Dallas Empire Challenge	⁠⁠MERK	MerK • DougIsRaw
	2021-01-31	26		$11K Outbreak Nutrition Invitational	⁠⁠TEEP	TeeP • MerK
	2021-01-21	40	$ 1,500$ 1,500$ 1,500	Doritos Bowl 2020	⁠⁠TEEP	TeeP • MerK • DougIsRaw
	2021-01-15	7	$ 450$ 450$ 450	London Royal Ravens Warzone Ravenstorm	⁠⁠TEEP	TeeP • Carson Bohling • MerK
	2020-12-20	11		New York Subliners $100K WarzoneMania 1	⁠⁠TEEP	TeeP • MerK • SlasheR
Total Prize:USD 3,950