A heroic performance from Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker and Jimmy “Marved” Nguyen today rescued the OpTic VALORANT roster from the brink of elimination at VCT Masters Reykjavík with a 2-0 series win over Latin America’s KRÜ Esports, setting up the North American second seed for a decisive rematch against XERXIA.
The series started on Bind, marking the map’s first appearance at this tournament. OpTic started out on defense and built a sizable lead in the first half, capitalizing on KRU’s sloppiness when it came to utility and peeking. Yay dropped 18 first-half kills on Chamber to give OpTic an 8-4 lead. That lead reached an insurmountable 11-4 score after OpTic claimed the second half pistol round, anti-eco, and bonus round thanks to more huge shots from yay. He ended the first map with 28 kills in a dominant 13-5 win for OpTic on KRÜ’s map pick.
After switching to Ascent, KRÜ started out strong early on defense, but OpTic kept it close thanks to some deep lurks and crushing rotates from Marved. Some late rounds won by OpTic reduced the KRÜ lead to only 7-5 at halftime.
OpTic continued to rely on Marved to make heroic plays, with both yay and crashies struggling to defend the B site from KRÜ takes. A clutch defuse made possible by Marved’s playmaking snowballed into an OpTic string of rounds. Yay came alive late with the Op to secure the OpTic win on Ascent 13-10.
With the victory, OpTic keep their playoff hopes alive but now must contend with a familiar foe to reach the next stage. XERXIA stunned OpTic in the opening round of this group stage, and when the two faced each other at Champions 2021 as Envy and X10, the Thai roster eliminated the NA hopefuls from playoff contention.
Their rematch is scheduled for 12pm CT on Wednesday, April 13.
