Cloud9 may be considered the best team in the NA VALORANT scene right now, but OpTic Gaming have something to say about that. In their semifinals matchup in the VCT Challengers Stage 1 Playoffs, OpTic rallied to a 2-1 series win, showing that despite some hiccups in the group stage, they're definitely still top contenders in this playoff race. An overtime map, a one-sided result, and a neck-and-neck decider—here's how OpTic pulled off the thrilling victory over Cloud9, in the eyes of in-game leader and birthday celebrant FNS.
Going into the match, many might have favored C9 to take the victory. After all, they were undefeated in the group stage, whereas OpTic ended with a 3-2 record. But OpTic themselves are still one of the top teams in NA, and they showed why today. FNS also said that despite C9 going on a tear lately, they never felt that they were underdogs in the matchup.
“We have a good feel about how [C9] play. We were very confident versus that lineup, and they're very confident against us, so I felt it was more of an even matchup as opposed to us coming in as underdogs,” he shared. “We proved to a lot of people that we are one of the best in North America. I'm still not going to say we're undisputed the best […] I'm just happy we were able to win today.”
The first map on Haven was Cloud9's map pick, where they've had an above 70 percent win rate. Still, it's not been a bad map historically for OpTic, where FNS points out that they “have a different comp compared to a lot of teams” as they run the new agent Neon.
This helped boost their confidence to secure that map over C9, even though they were trailing at the half after several close rounds. “We ended the half 8-4 but we knew it should've been closer, and when we won that 9-5 round to make it 9-6, we knew we were in it,” FNS said.
“Leading up to this match, we had a lot of scrims on Haven where we fixed a lot of things, so we were very confident,” the IGL further elaborated. “I was feeling very confident in my calls today and I just felt like I knew everything they were doing. We were hitting sites sometimes that were empty and just lost close fights here and there — but I'm glad we were able to pull through.”
OpTic managed to drag that first map to overtime and then secure the win, 14-12. Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker racked up 33 kills and 372 ACS on Chamber, while FNS himself contributed massive plays on Breach to clear out sites in a very oppressive way to prevent C9 from getting the space they needed on the defense.
For the second map, OpTic had picked Fracture, as C9 had banned Blind. Prior to this series, Cloud9 had been banning Fracture, indicating they may not be as comfortable on it. “The main reason we picked it is because they ban that map normally, so when they banned Bind, it was a no-brainer to pick Fracture,” FNS explained.
However, the second map didn't go their way. OpTic got destroyed, 13-5, despite grabbing both pistol rounds. In large part, it was due to C9 Duelist leaf popping off, this time manning the Chamber himself. The scoreline, FNS said, was not really representative of how close several rounds were, but they “definitely have a lot of work to do on that map.”
To bounce back after that loss, FNS and OpTic kept their heads cool to “move on to the next [map],” which was on Ascent. Both teams have respectable records on that map, making a great setting for the decider.
“We've been in a lot of 1-1 situations where we got destroyed, and it's just about resetting and maintaining composure, knowing that Ascent is one of our stronger maps now,” he said.
Similar to what happened on Fracture, OpTic claimed the pistol rounds, but small moments and micro outplays gave Cloud9 a slight 7-5 advantage going into the half. As OpTic swapped to the defenders side, they dropped the first pistol round, putting themselves in a tight spot.
But the next round proved to be the difference-maker that swung the game in their favor. Crucially, OpTic secured the next round on an eco, setting Cloud9 back significantly in terms of economy. Jimmy “Marved” Nguyen made a critical play, smoking off the Killjoy turret outside B. This allowed OpTic to flank and get the first kill on C9 Mitch “mitch” Semago during their retake, FNS narrated.
“It just changed everything. Because we won that round, the entire momentum just shifted in our favor — we just knew we were going to win this game,” he recalled.
That inched OpTic closer at 8-6, and later tying the series 8-8 as Austin “crashies” Roberts pulled off a clutch round, even as his teammates fell around him to give him the time and space to defuse the spike. Once OpTic grabbed a hold of the game, they never let go, winning seven successive rounds in the second half to seal the victory at 13-8.
“I've never felt more confident in a game than I did today, I'll be honest,” the IGL expressed. “I knew immediately what to call at what points — we were just getting extremely unlucky — but at no point did it feel like my team or myself were flustered. We just always knew and believed we could win.”
To cap off a special day, FNS, who just turned 30, shared how exciting it felt to still be playing at this level: “It's a privilege to be competing still and to have as many fans as we have. To have my team believe in me and in themselves, it's a privilege to be playing at this level. Every match is just exciting and I can't wait to play again.”
Now progressing to the VCT Challengers playoffs upper finals, FNS and OpTic will look to continue riding that momentum to reclaim their spot at the top of NA's pro VALORANT scene. They will play their next series next week Friday, MArch 25, 2022, at 1 pm ET / 4 pm PT.
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