OpTic Gaming reached the upper bracket final of Champions 2022, and they have their eyes on the trophy. Last year, they lost Masters Berlin in the final and Champions went unfortunate for this roster, but this year as OpTic, they won one Masters and established their place as one of the best teams in VALORANT esports.
Why are they so good and what can they do in the final weekend of VALORANT Champions Istanbul? We will try to give some answers to those questions. First, let’s take a look at how this roster was gathered, what they showed in North America and why they have been my favourite at winning Champions since the start.
NV surprises everyone by eclipsing Sentinels
FNS, Victor, crashies, yay and Marved started to play together in 2021 as Team Envy, with yay joining very late. While they have been one of the stronger teams in North America, they couldn’t get further than fourth place in NA Masters before yay’s arrival. After him, they managed to finish third in NA Challengers and make it to Berlin.
The third Masters tournament of the year was the first time the world knew about Envy. Starting strong, taking down KRÜ Esports and Keyd Stars 2-0 in their group, Team Envy already established themselves as one of the favourites. As the tournament unfolds, they would take down other North American teams as well.
Sentinels came to Berlin undefeated and took their first loss against G2 Esports in the group stage. They were still considered a favourite in Berlin until Envy broke them apart and sent them to oblivion with a 2-0 victory. After another 2-0 win over 100 Thieves, yay and his teammates faced Gambit without losing a single map in Berlin. However, the grand final was a tough loss, a 3-0 victory from the EMEA representative.
We were expecting Team Envy to be a regular face in VALORANT esports now, they would represent NA at Champions as well but it ended early for them with some shocking defeats. After getting defeated by Acend, NV lost the decider match against X10 Crit, whom they defeated earlier. Blowing a 9-3 advantage on Haven to lose it in overtime, Envy now had to work for the next season.
OpTic Gaming enters VALORANT
OpTic acquired the roster for 2022 to play under their own brand instead of Team Envy, and the strong five started work for better achievements this year. Even though they lost both NA Challengers tournaments, OpTic managed to win Masters Reykjavík and finish third in Masters Copenhagen, reminding us of a similar story, Sentinels.
Unlike Sentinels, OpTic did not have the pressure of being the best and undefeated team of North America and unlike TenZ, yay did not have the pressure of being the superstar of North America. Thus, OpTic were able to get themselves up faster than Sentinels, and the disappointment in Copenhagen didn’t make them lose Champions as well. They have already been there, done that.
OpTic will play in the final weekend of Champions 2022 and try to get the best trophy in VALORANT esports. If you can’t attend the tournament in Istanbul, you can find live streams on Luckbox to watch the games. Make sure to sign up now to claim your 100% bonus before placing your bets.
Champions 2022 is going great
After a 2022 that was full of success, OpTic Gaming continues to offer some great performances for their fans in Istanbul as well. The team entered as one of the favourites, and they are playing like one. They will face LOUD in the upper bracket final after defeating XSET in the North American derby. They are the final representatives of North America as well.
Let’s analyze their play style by looking at their performance in Champions 2022: obviously, the team’s main focus is yay. The man has a fantastic form with Chamber on 12 maps, with 1.72 KD. Such numbers are fantastic, and I have never seen something like that before. With assists included it makes up 1.9 KDA. The closest is KiNgg’s 1.81. However, the closest KD is Derke’s 1.39 in 15 maps.
Unlike SUYGETSU, Ardiis or Shao of FPX, or Alfajer and Derke of Fnatic, yay generally takes the sole responsibility of taking his team further. Crashies and Victor help him a lot, but from the start, this roster was focusing on giving yay the opportunity to carry and the rest will step up when the position requires them to.
While it obviously loads the burden onto yay’s shoulders, it also lifts a lot of pressure from the other players. In my opinion, if you can find a player like yay who can take this mentally, then this is a perfect setup for success. While they look like they don’t have incredible stats, the other four players can actually focus on what their agents do the best.
You can question for how long yay can keep this form, but him being this good for as long as he can is enough for OpTic. He already got them to the top three, and if he can stay as good for two more series, it will win them an international trophy, the best one ever. When there is an agent like Chamber that teams can easily abuse, it is the perfect plan, as I said, if you have a player that can bear such expectations and pressure.
