After their win 2-1 over their rival LOUD, OpTic Gaming closed out the group stage of VALORANT Championship Tour: Champions – Istanbul with 23 more rounds wins than their losses, currently the most out of anyone else in the tournament. As winners of 2022 VCT Masters 1, OpTic are looking to add another international VALORANT trophy to their case.
WE'RE HEADED TO PLAYOFFS! #VALORANTChampions pic.twitter.com/nZVJZ2cA8D
— OpTic Gaming™ (@OpTic) September 2, 2022
We spoke with OpTic player Austin “crashies” Roberts after their win, discussing their incredibly fun to watch series against LOUD, their potential opponents, and his message to fans out there.
“Definitely feels amazing to overcome LOUD, especially how the series started out,” he said. “We started off pretty slow and they came out, you know, firing. So for us to bounce back and win in the fashion that we did, it just feels really good.”
The series started with a devastating half for OpTic on Breeze as LOUD went 1-11. The six rounds they took in the second half were in vain as at the end of it all, the map went the way of their rivals, 13-7.
On Fracture, the first half ended 6-6 but LOUD gained momentum and brought the series to 7-10. At what can only be described as a make-or-break moment, OpTic made it with a 6 round win streak, staying in the series to see Pearl.
“We’re always confident that we can bring it back,” said crashies. “I remember, when we were down and it was a 5v3 on an eco round, I was like, ‘Guys, if we win this round, we win the game, I promise’ and everyone locked in after that. We made sure to win the round and that’s what we did, we closed the map and managed to win.”
Having picked the exact same champions in Pearl, this chapter of OpTic versus LOUD rivalry was achieving it’s climax for the year. With a dominant fashion, OpTic started the game 9-3 and finished it 13-3, leaving no doubt as to who was better in this new map of VALORANT.
“When the map came out and we first started playing it, it just kinda clicked with all five of us, we just kinda understood how the map should be played and how we wanted to play that map,” said crashies about OpTic on Pearl. “I think it could be a really strong map for us. We’ll see.”
Now that they have qualified for the playoffs, it’s their time to take a seat and analyze their potential opponents, each one stronger than the ones before. In terms of their strongest opponent, crashies said: “Maybe Leviatán, I mean I’d say Leviatán just because they were the first team to make it to playoffs. I mean DRX today were also looking real good, all teams looked really good so I can’t pick one.”
Lastly, he wanted to thank their fans for their support and promised that they will try their best “to bring you guys the dubs.”
crashies told fans: “We see all your support, just keep supporting us in highs and lows and we’ll keep doing everything we can.”
