OpTic Gaming first team to qualify for VCT Champions

Masters Champions OpTic Gaming move one step closer to qualifying for their fifth straight VCT Masters event after dispensing of Evil Geniuses (EG) 2-0 on Saturday. With the win, OpTic secured the first VCT Champions spot around the globe. and will face XSET for a second opportunity to be crowned North American champs after The Guard swiped it away in Stage One. 

“I would say we were happy, but we were kind of expecting this,” said OpTic’s Jimmy "Marved" Nguyen in a post-match interview. “After the tournament in Europe and all the practice we got in Europe, it elevated our game and we’re not really afraid of any opponent anymore”

For Rejyavik MVP Marved, he exuded confidence after finishing EG in one of the most lopsided victories of the season. Ending in a +18 round differential for OpTic, it was clear from the first pistol that they adjusted from the loss to EG in group stages. OpTic proceeded to completely smother EG, burying them on gun rounds, as EG failed to pick one solitary gun round during the whole series. 

The first major difference between the two series was Victor “Victor” Wong picking up Jett on Haven. Victor has proven to be a relentless entry-fragger on a variety of agents and play styles. Him picking up Jett shouldn’t come as a surprise. In fact, he’s played Neon, Raze, and Yoru in the past. So, moving to historically best entry agent in VALORANT is not a huge leap.

“I feel like Victor is just a really good entry player in general. So, I feel like our team wanted him on an entry agent, so Jett’s a really good agent for him,” said Marved. “We had FNS on the Viper and me on the Kay-o and I feel like it works out. We can all play different agents since it's not really a problem.” 

Moreover, OpTic’s game plan was flawless when it came to keeping EG off-guard on defense. The amount of first kills Optic found shooting an EG player from the back was absurd.  The misdirection early in rounds made holding a site for EG nearly impossible, constantly biting on Optic’s bait. 

“We came a lot more hungry for revenge and we made sure our comps were set and it was very hard to anti,” said Marved. “We tried to be the un-readables.”

Focusing on those pistol rounds, this is an area where EG make their money. It’s their bread and butter. Nobody came close to their effectiveness on pistols in the group stages, winning at a 70% clip. However, facing OpTic a second time's a whole different beast. At Reykjavik and now back in domestic play, Optic continue to dominate in their rematch's. Against EG, it was all about limiting them on pistols and it worked.

“We had a lot more set pistol rounds this time and we went over these pistol rounds already so we were ready for these early rounds,” said Marved. “Losing 5-6 pistols is not good, so we made it really hard on ourselves. In this match we wanted to a win a couple more” 

Optic ended up winning three of four pistol rounds and pushed their economic advantage further ahead. It didn’t help EG with Optic winning virtually all of their full and semi-buy rounds throughout the match. At every step, EG felt overmatched by an opponent hitting their peak at the right time.

Optic will face XSET in the Upper Finals for a chance at a trip to Masters Copenhagen, while EG will play NRG in the lower bracket on Sunday June 19th.