North American Valorant Team OpTic Gaming became the first team to secure their spot at VCT Stage-1 Masters Reykjavik. VCT Masters Reykjavik, has 2 spots for NA Challengers one of which is already secured by OpTic. The final spot will be reserved for the winner of the lower bracket semi final between The Guard and Cloud9.
Led by Pujan ‘FNS’ Mehta, OpTic beat out the Guard in a quick 2-0 fashion to book a spot at the ongoing VCT Challengers NA Stage 1 Grand Finals, and with it for VCT Masters Iceland.
OpTic had qualified for playoffs after a 3-2 finish in the group stage, and have been on a flawless run in the upper bracket. First they beat ‘dephh’ led XSET 2-1, followed by Group A toppers Cloud9 in another 3 map affair. Coming to the UB Final, they made short work of The Guard to send them down to the lower bracket.
MAP 1 – Split: OpTic Gaming 13-10 The Guard
MAP 2 – Bind: OpTic Gaming 13-4 The Guard
The tie started with a very close battle between the two sides. OpTic started on the Defence on the right foot with a streak of 4, followed by an unanswered 6 from The Guard to send Marved and co. reeling. OpTic clawed back 2 rounds and they were neck and neck at the end of the first half at 6-6.
On the attack, OpTic looked better from the get go and won 5 of the first 6 rounds to sit at 11-7. Somewhat of a comeback was mounted by Guard but too late in the half as FNS and co. won 13-10.
On their own pick of Bind, OpTic were a cut above Guard. Valyn and co. couldn’t get 2 consecutive rounds after the first 2 as Victor on Raze and yay on chamber sent Guard reeling to end the half 8-4.
A flawless defence saw OpTic mop the floor with Guard as they marched their way to VCT Challengers NA Finals with a 13-4 win, and a quick 2-0.
LOWER BRACKET BATTLE – The Guard vs Cloud9
After being sent to the lower bracket by OpTic, C9 will be looking for revenge but they will need to get through Guard first if they want to have a shot at that. The winner of this matchup will also secure their spot at VCT Master 1 Reykjavik, becoming the second team from NA to do so.
C9 themselves beat XSET yesterday 2-1, with both their map wins being lopsided affairs.
The match will be played on 27th March 2022, 01:30 IST.
VCT MASTERS REYKJAVIK FOR OPTIC
After rebranding and acquiring ENVY’s roster in February this year, OpTic showed how they’re of the best Valorant NA teams at the moment. They will travel to Iceland to compete in the first Masters event of 2022, in April. The teams that have now secured their spot at VCT Masters Stage 1 are:
- FunPlus Phoenix
- G2 esports
- fnatic
- OpTic Gaming
- Paper Rex
- The Guard/Cloud9
6 spots still remain for VCT Masters 1, which will be filled up by winners of Japan, Korea, APAC, Brazil, LATAM and LATAM vs BR Challengers winners.
