Dephh points out what’s holding XSET back from being a top-four NA team

XSET are one of a few teams that qualified for every VALORANT Champions Tour North American playoff stage throughout 2021, alongside Sentinels. They have consistently moved up the NA VALORANT ladder.

However, even as one of North America’s most consistent teams, XSET has never qualified for a major international event, with their highest finish being fourth in 2021.

Moving forward into 2022, this moniker is one that XSET in-game leader Rory “dephh” Jackson hopes will change.

When they entered this weekend’s Stage 1 playoffs, XSET had looked at their first match against OpTic Gaming, another one of NA’s most consistent teams, as an opportunity to show that 2022 is their breakout year.

A tough 2-1 loss to OpTic now places XSET in the lower bracket early in the tournament. XSET got off to a resounding start against OpTic Gaming and took the first game of the series on Split in a dominant 13-4 showing. But once the series went to Ascent, they weren’t able to carry that same momentum.

“We were a bit slow at making adjustments on Ascent that when we finally got adjusted into the game, we were really far behind.” dephh said when asked about Game 2 of the series. “We began to make a comeback but once we lost one round, it was hard to come back at that time. Then in Game 3, we could not get the momentum back in our favor.”

After losing a close series that dephh believes could have “gone either way,” the XSET captain is unfazed and ready to bounce back from their loss to OpTic and make the run to Masters: Reykjavík that he knows XSET is capable of.

The roster change that gives dephh high hopes for 2022

Heading into 2022, XSET acquired Matthew “Cryocells” Panganiban as their newest addition to replace Bryce "PureR" Lovell. Since this addition, XSET have had more flexibility and firepower through Cryocells, and it is something that gives dephh a lot of hope and confidence that they can finally push past things that held them back in 2021.

“With our previous lineup, there was a bit of a block in our minds.” dephh said. “But watching Cryocells grow into his own style and show star qualities gives me a lot of confidence that we will only get better as time goes on.”

When asked where he would currently rank XSET as a team, dephh was honest about his team’s current placement in North America. Though, in his mind, he sees the potential in this lineup to rise up as a top dog in North America if they can fix one major glaring issue.

“We have to show that we can win playoff games as a team,” dephh openly shared. “That is the only thing holding this team back from contention as a top-four team. But because of this, I see us as the fifth- or sixth-best team right now.”

It’s a frank perspective compared to the usual bravado of viewing oneself as the best in competition. However, dephh is confident in the team because he sees this meta as one of the best opportunities to take games off anybody. In his mind, there is no definitive No. 1 team.

“The game in CS:GO evolved at a much slower pace compared to VALORANT where everything can be random at times,” dephh said.

Enriched with years of experience gained from CS:GO, dephh has experienced how the meta can shift the game and create inconsistency at the top.

“The meta in VALORANT is so crazy right now that anybody in the top six can take games off of each other because the constant meta change creates a constant mad scramble for the top.” dephh said.

Still, he noted a few teams that have stood out to him as the top teams in North America right now because of their consistency.

“The top three teams in NA right now are Version1, Cloud9 and The Guard, in that order,” dephh said. “These teams, but especially Version1 have shown their ability to win games that they need to win. They do not lose games that are in their control and that is why they are finding so much success in 2022.”

In the current meta, everything is constantly changing and teams are experiencing the growing pains that are noticeable via the amount of upsets throughout the VCT NA group stages. And in a meta where consistently adapting is key, that is something that dephh views as one of the primary goals for XSET’s growth.

“Consistency is something that we are working really hard on in scrims, so hopefully that will show through our play as we go through the lower bracket,” he said.

A lower bracket run begins with the Pittsburgh Knights

Following their loss to OpTic Gaming in the upper bracket quarterfinals, XSET will now need to make a miracle run of four consecutive series wins through the lower bracket if they want to qualify for Masters in April.

The first of these series will be against the Pittsburgh Knights on Sunday, a rematch of the Nerd Street Gamers Winter Championship final which XSET won 2-0. And while dephh has confidence that XSET is a strong team, he understands just how dangerous the Knights can be.

“The Knights are a tricky team because they have really come out of nowhere as this team that can challenge the top six in VALORANT, dephh said. “They challenged Cloud9 very hard in a close 2-1 series, so we cannot take that lightly at all, but I think their tendency to choose agent comfort picks over what is strong gives me confidence that we can take them down.”

The Pittsburgh Knights came into the Stage 1 group stage as one of the underdogs but shocked many when they were able to make it to the playoffs. Now, they have an opportunity to shut down any hopes of a lower bracket run from XSET in what is sure to be an exciting lower bracket series.

Lead photo credit: DreamHack