OpTic get revenge against XERXIA to qualify for Masters: Reykjavik playoffs

OpTic Gaming got off to a slow start at the VALORANT Champions Tour’s Masters: Reykjavík. Viewed as one of the favorites to win the entire event, OpTic Gaming shocked everyone when they dropped their first series against XERXIA 2-0. As a result, they had to play an elimination match. For head coach Chet “Chet” Singh, his initial perception of XERXIA had changed.

“They’re a team that's very hard for us to read, so they forced us to play very slow,” Chet said. “It’s extremely hard to prepare for that team. They do a good job of making us not know what they are doing. It’s probably one of the toughest games we played and definitely hard to understand what’s happening until it actually happens.”

Since their initial loss to XERXIA, OpTic Gaming have been surging back to form, first against KRÜ Esports in the elimination match. Now, they have gotten revenge on XERXIA in 2-0 fashion. Behind that dominant performance was OpTic Gaming’s Victor “Victor” Wong, whose performance on Neon in the series elicited praise from his teammates.

Photo credit: Riot Games

“He dominated on Neon on both maps,” in-game leader Pujan “FNS” Mehta said. “It's kind of easy to gas out after you have a good first map and go into the second map with less gas, so good for him.”

In two games, Victor dominated XERXIA with a collective 291 average combat score, 191 average damage per round and 43 kills.

After a strong finish to the group stage, OpTic Gaming seems to have begun to warm up, and for Jaccob “yay” Whittaker, this is something that he feels is a very important step for them.

“I do feel like there is some advantage for our team because we usually like to start slow,” yay said. “So for us to get that out of the way now and keep building our momentum, that is an advantage for us personally.”

This is something that FNS agreed with, though to a lesser extent than his teammate.

“I say that we are a momentum-based team, but I think this [VALORANT] is just that kind of game where if you gain momentum, a lot of the time, you have good reads on what they are going to do the next round and the round after that,” FNS said. “I think every team to some degree is momentum-based in this game.”

One of North America’s most consistent teams in VALORANT, the core of OpTic Gaming has qualified for three consecutive international LAN events, with their best performance coming at Masters: Berlin where they finished in second.

Photo credit: Riot Games

Now, OpTic have their sights set on dominating the rest of Masters: Reykjavík. This is something that FNS is confident they can do as long as they continue to implement what they practice, momentum or not.

“For us, I think even when we’re down and we don’t have momentum, we take timeouts a lot of the time and make correct decisions,” FNS said. “A lot of it just comes down to people not trying to be heroes and do their own thing. Just use the utility we have, and like you saw today, if we do those things, then we are usually pretty hard to beat.”

After a rocky start to Masters, OpTic Gaming can take a momentary sigh of relief after qualifying for the playoffs. Here, OpTic will begin their quest for the team’s first championship against a familiar opponent, The Guard.

“This time versus The Guard, I think they’re going to probably change a lot of their comps. If they don’t, then it’ll be a little bit easier for us.” Chet said.

Last time OpTic Gaming took on The Guard, they lost a close five-game series. However, now in a LAN environment, Chet is confident that Optic Gaming’s experience will carry them to victory over The Guard.

“I think they are going to have to gimmick us a little bit to win that match because we have more stage experience than them,” Chet said. “So when it comes down to it, we are just going to have to play our game and just hope it works better that day.”

The North American head-to-head between OpTic Gaming and The Guard will take place on Friday at 4 p.m. ET. The Masters: Reykjavík playoffs will kick off Thursday at 1 p.m. ET.

Lead photo credit: Riot Games