by With a victory over Korea DRX, OpTic Gaming secured a spot in the Valorant Masters Reykjavik Winners Finals 2022.
Coming into the series, they were the underdogs across several esports betting platforms but successfully defeated DRX.
It was an inspiring display for the North American team, especially considering how slowly they started. Even though they lost the first map, their heads did not drop.
Losing Ascent might have been enough to take the wind out of their sails, especially with DRX being the stronger team on paper. However, they turned things around in Icebox and Split.
OpTic kept their concentration in the closely-contested third map and came out on top in the best of 3 series. Defeating a team that was riding on an eight-game winning streak is a big deal, and OpTic has shown that they deserve to be in the competition. It has not been the most dominating run from OpTic in the tournament, but they are getting results when necessary.
With their 2-1 win over DRX, they will face LOUD in the Upper Bracket final. Their journey to the Grand Final is a lot easier at this stage, concerning the number of games they have to play to get there. The difficulty level, of course, will increase.
LOUD, who were the winners of Brazil Challengers, have had a perfect run in the Masters so far. They defeated Team Liquid and G2 Esports to reach the Winners Finals.
OpTic has the support of the entire North America (NA). Before their game against DRX, The Guard head coach Mathew Elmore urged fans to support their NA counterpart.
It was an interesting show of camaraderie, seeing as OpTic were responsible for knocking them out of the tournament. Both teams qualified to represent NA, but only one is left.
OpTic’s win over The Guard in the Upper Bracket Quarterfinals, and failure for them to defeat Paper Rex in the Lower Bracket Round 1 leaves OpTic as the only NA team remaining in the tournament. A win for OpTic is a win for NA, or at least that’s how Elmore sees it.
The Upper Bracket Final will be held on April 22, and we can expect the entire NA to rally around OpTic once again. They are, once again, the underdogs but have shown they can get the big results when necessary.
Failure to win will relegate them to the Lower Bracket Finals, where they will play one of four teams, including G2 Esports, Paper Rex, ZETA DIVISION, or DRX.
Later tonight, the likely candidates they could face in the Lower Bracket Finals will be narrowed down as two Lower Bracket Round 2 games will be concluded.
