New name, same result: OpTic Gaming qualify for VCT Masters

North America has their first representative going into the VALORANT Champions Tour’s Masters: Reykjavík after OpTic Gaming dominated The Guard in the North American playoffs upper bracket final.

While qualifying for the first major VALORANT LAN event of the year warrants celebration, OpTic’s Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker knows that their journey does not stop here.

“On one hand, I am really happy that we won and secured our spot at Reykjavík, but another part of me knows that the job is not done,” yay said. “We have been here multiple times, but the goal for us is to finally lift that trophy and reclaim glory back in North America because we know the international stage will be another beast.”

Learning from their failures at Champions

OpTic Gaming, formerly known as Envy throughout 2021, were the runners-up at Masters: Berlin but ended their year on a low note when they failed to make it to the playoffs of Champions.

This is something that drove the team to recalibrate and enter 2022 with a new focus.

“We had a big discussion as a team with our goals, like going forward, and we had a big discussion with our coach. And basically, we tried for like the offseason to all get on the same page,” yay said. “So for the first months, we used that time to just experiment different playstyles, different compositions and strategies to just grow from that failure.”

In 2022, OpTic Gaming showcased a wide range of playstyles, something that could be seen by their shaky run through the group stages with the primary goal to get better as a team.

“We used the group stages to experiment these styles in official matches,” yay shared when asked about the weaker group stage showing. “Things got scary, but we won the games needed to get into the next stage, and even in our losses, we learned so much about what worked and didn’t work for us.”

One of these big changes made between the group stage and playoffs was their change in communication which proved to be extremely beneficial for the team.

“We noticed in those matches that we were not all actively trying to contribute to every single round,” yay said. “So we talked about being more open about asking in-game for things that we need to take advantage of a certain play.”

He listed how the team learned to ask for more utility to set up certain players to perform and how they learned to play around with certain combinations if the moment felt right for them.

The main thing for them was that they did it as one cohesive unit.

“We just tried to play together going into the playoffs,” yay said. “We knew that even if the play was not the best, if we did it together and put trust into what each person needed, we would be more successful.”

This experimentation led to a stronger OpTic once the playoffs began as they have excelled through the upper bracket.

First, they beat XSET, then Cloud9 and finally The Guard to qualify for Reykjavík.

Who will join OpTic in Reykjavík?

Photo credit: Riot Games

Now, OpTic can breathe a slight sigh of relief knowing that no matter what they do, they are guaranteed to represent NA at Masters: Reykjavík. And when asked who would join them, he had confidence in one team.

“It is very tough to say who will join us,” yay said. “XSET’s Cryocells has been very impressive, and The Guard is a rising team, but ultimately, I have a lot of faith in C9 that they are the team to beat for that second spot.”

When asked for his reasoning, he said C9 was the team that challenged them the most throughout their games. And the possibility of a rematch for that first seed from NA into Reykjavík is one that excites the OpTic operator player.

“Anytime we play against Cloud9, you know the match is going to be one you need to keep an eye out for,” yay said. “Time and time again, they just always show up, and I feel like they are the team who gives us the hardest time, so it will be fun to see what will happen in the rematch.”

Cloud9 had fallen into the lower bracket due to losing a close 2-1 series to OpTic Gaming. After taking down Version1 on Thursday and XSET on Friday, Cloud9 will play in the lower bracket final against OpTic’s most recent opponent, The Guard, for that second spot in the grand final.

That match will take place Saturday at 4 p.m. ET as both teams fight for that final NA spot at Masters: Reykjavík.

Lead photo credit: Riot Games