VCT 2022 Stage 2 NA Challengers is over as XSET won it all and will represent NA at Masters Copenhagen. After taking down Masters Reykjavík champion OpTic Gaming, XSET secured a playoff start in Copenhagen and will compete in an international tournament for the first time in its history.
Especially after OpTic's success in Reykjavík, we expected them to finish NA Challengers as winners. However, XSET managed to stand in their way and secure the victory. What could they bring to Copenhagen and what should we expect from them? Let's take a look at their journey.
Brief history of XSET VALORANT
XSET was founded in July 2020 and has a long history in VALORANT. However, XSET's biggest achievement was advancing to the NA Stage 1 Masters in 2021. Although they made it to the Challengers Finals twice that year, their story always ended prematurely with XSET being unable to compete in an international tournament that year.
Acquiring Cryocells prior to VCT 2022, XSET won the NA Stage 1 Challengers Open Qualifier with only one goal in their mind: to make it past the playoffs and represent their flag internationally. After being defeated by C9 in the Stage 1 Challengers Playoffs, they failed to do so. However, they decided to keep the squad and try again in Stage 2 Challengers.
XSET’s NA Challengers journey
XSET started in Group A and faced Ghost Gaming, 100 Thieves, NRG, The Guard and TSM. Apart from a loss in week three against 100T, XSET had the dream scenario and finished 4-1, tying with Ghost Gaming. The series they won 2-0 against GHST broke that tie and gave XSET first place.
Thanks to this result, XSET started in the semi-finals of the upper bracket in the playoffs. Two good performances against 100 Thieves (13-10 on Icebox and 13-4 on Ascent) secured them a quick victory and moved them into the upper bracket final, where they met OpTic.
OpTic showed in this best-of-five series against XSET how much of an advantage they have, thanks to their previous experiences. After losing 13-7 on Haven, OpTic made a comeback and won Icebox and Ascent 13-11. Losing 3-1, XSET had to go through FaZe Clan in the lower bracket final to reach the grand final.
As FaZe won the first map 13-11, XSET were now in OpTic's position and knew what to do. They kept their heads in the game even on Icebox which ended 16-14, and XSET managed to beat FaZe with a 13-4 win on the final map. With this result XSET secured the Masters Copenhagen, a playoff start was now at stake.
The fate of the series was the same: OpTic won the first map, Fracture, 14-12 against XSET and started with a win. However, XSET responded with a confident 13-3 win on Haven and a 13-7 win on Bind. With the series on the line, OpTic tried to capture Ascent with an 11-2 start, but XSET pulled off a miracle by winning 10 rounds in a row to end the game 13-11. After this incredible result, XSET made it to the Masters Copenhagen playoffs.
XSET's story looks interesting, as they aren't a superstar team, but rather an ensemble one. If you want to watch their games in Masters Copenhagen, you can visit Luckbox for live streams and sign up now to claim your 100% bonus which you can use while placing your bets.
XSET roster
XSET's VALORANT squad consists of dephh, Cryocells, zekken, AYRIN and BcJ, a North American five. They are coached by head coach SyykoNT and his analyst DrewSpark.
Cryocells is definitely one of the superstars of the team. He played either Chamber or Jett during NA Challengers 2 and had an average combat score of 230.2 with 1.31 K/D, one of the best in the tournament. He is followed by zekken, who also played Jett and Raze, the duelists. He follows Cryocells very closely with 230.0 ACS, but his K/D is much lower at 1.14.
dephh plays mostly Brimstone and KAY/O, initiators and controllers. His K/D is not perfect, but he still managed to maintain an average combat score of 186.2. AYRIN's choice of classes is similar, but his agent pool is different, playing mainly Breach and Omen. He had a K/D of 1.01 and 191.8 ACS. BcJ played either initiators like Sova or Skye, or sentinels like Sage. He is at 1.03 K/D and 191.6 ACS.
XSET's players did not top any of the important stats like ADR, ACS or K/D in NA Challengers. However, because they played as a team and used what they learned along the way, they made it to Copenhagen.
