OpTic Gaming have their backs against the wall at Masters: Reykjavík

Yankees baseball great Yogi Berra once said (supposedly), “It’s déjà vu all over again.” It’s fitting for the situation OpTic Gaming’s VALORANT team found themselves in on Sunday when facing XERXIA on the first day of Masters: Reykjavík.

When these two teams faced each other in December, OpTic were known as Envy and four of the five members of XERXIA’s roster were playing for X10 Crit. It was Champions 2021, and X10 Crit beat Envy 2-1 to move on to the playoffs and eliminate Envy from the VALORANT Champions Tour’s year-end championship tournament.

Unfortunately for OpTic, it was the same result on Sunday. The team was constantly behind in their match against XERXIA and lost 2-0.

“We were making decisions way too quickly in both maps and obviously we started off really really slow on Icebox and it just felt as a team we were really flustered,” OpTic’s in-game leader Pujan “FNS” Mehta said. “We usually have a decent flow of ideas going. People have composure consistently, so just felt off today, for sure, and they obviously capitalized.”

OpTic were down 4-0 to start on Icebox with XERXIA on offense. They came back to nearly even the score at 7-5 at halftime, but XERXIA’s defense held up to win the map 13-10.

The second map, Ascent, was OpTic’s pick, and although they looked better throughout, they still ended up losing 13-10.

“They changed up their comp on Ascent, which is really strong for them because they knew they were starting on defense so they used Sage and Killjoy,” FNS said.

OpTic had won both Icebox and Ascent against the former X10 roster at Champions. Previously when they played Ascent, X10 had used Cypher, KAY/O and Astra instead of Sage, Killjoy and Omen.

Unlike their loss to X10 that eliminated them from Champions, FNS pointed out that their Masters run is still not over.

Photo credit: Riot Games

“It’s always gonna suck to lose, but we know we don’t have time to sulk,” he said. “At the end of the day, we’re not out, that’s the main thing. We need to realize we’re not out. We’re not by any means done in this tournament.”

FNS said Sunday after the team’s loss that he would start preparing that night for their next opponent, KRÜ Esports. They’ll have no margin for error as they’ll have to beat KRÜ and then either Team Liquid or XERXIA in order to qualify for the playoffs.

Even though they’ll play in the Group B elimination match, it’s not like their opponent is any easier than who they would have faced in the Group B winner’s match, Team Liquid. Group B is loaded as both KRÜ and Team Liquid were semifinalists at Champions, and XERXIA were Champions quarterfinalists. Considering OpTic were runners-up at Masters: Berlin, Group B is far and away tougher than Group A, where only Fnatic have notable international results.

The fact they’re in a tougher group, however, doesn’t faze FNS.

“It’s fun. It’s what we play for to play on stage and play against good teams,” FNS said.

FNS knows that if they beat KRÜ, OpTic will be back on track.

“If we win [Tuesday] we’re right back where we started,” he said. “It’s just about coming back from the lower bracket now. We know we have a second chance and we’re gonna take it.”

It’ll mean either a rematch with XERXIA or a matchup against a European squad, Team Liquid. OpTic have yet to beat a European team, so it’ll be a challenge either way.

OpTic will face KRÜ on Tuesday at approximately 2 p.m. ET following the conclusion of the DRX vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas.

Lead photo credit: Riot Games