VALORANT Masters Copenhagen: Guild pull off early upset over Reykjavik champs OpTic
The VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) Stage 2 Masters tournament in Copenhagen, Denmark kicked off on Sunday (10 July). The event features 12 of the best VALORANT teams from all over the world competing from 10 to 24 July for a cut of the US$650,000 prize pool.
In usual VALORANT fashion, the opening day of Masters Copenhagen ended on an exciting note.
The match between North America's OpTic Gaming, champions of Stage 1 Masters Reykjavík, and Europe’s Guild Esports was the highlight of the day, with Guild pulling off an unexpected 2-0 sweep.
Here's how Guild Esports upset the Masters Reykjavík champions:
Guild Esports 2-0 OpTic Gaming
Game one: Icebox
The match started with surprise map picks from both sides of the stage, with Guild picking Icebox while OpTic went with Split.
With that, Guild took out an early lead on Icebox off the back of Jose Luis “koldamenta” Aranguren Herrero’s plays, leading to map control.
With OpTic struggling to hit shots and failing to make any initial impact, the European squad notched seven-straight rounds on the map, seemingly off to an early win.
However, the streak was put on hold by a clutch from Austin “crashies” Roberts, who came alive at the last minute with his Fade.
Despite another round going into Guild’s favor, the clutch from crashies jumpstarted OpTic, leading to an 8-4 scoreboard at halftime with Guild on the lead.
However, OpTic’s resurgence was short-lived, as Guild started the second half on defense with an impressive pistol round, even punishing Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker during the duels as he tried to advance.
Unrelenting, Guild continued to push OpTic back, building an impressive 11-4 lead before OpTic got their second wind.
11 rounds for @guildesports! #VALORANTMasters pic.twitter.com/QhdQmMPT1u
— VALORANT Champions Tour 🇩🇰 (@ValorantEsports) July 10, 2022
With Jimmy “Marved” Nguyen and his brimstone pulling back-to-back triples, the North American squad slowly started catching up.
Yay and in-game leader Pujan “FNS” Mehta also hit back hard, pulling off multi-kills to close the gap at 9-11, just two rounds short from Guild’s lead.
OpTic would win a couple more rounds, but their opponents would always take them right back. Guild then managed to retake site A not long after, with Saif “Sayf” Jibraeel holding the ground during the 24th round, ultimately giving the EMEA squad the win on Icebox at 13-11.
Game two: Split
As game two started on OpTic’s map pick, hopes were high that the North American squad would finally bring their A-game.
However, Guild continued their streak, keeping OpTic’s economy in shambles and punishing their attack side over and over for an early 7-0 lead, even leaving yay scoreless.
Luckily, crashies was there once again to jumpstart OpTic with a 1v1 clutch against Leo “Leo” Jannesson, helping the team end at 4-8 during halftime.
OpTic continued that comeback in the second half on defense, where they even won a bonus round with all of Guild still alive.
Trading sides and stringing rounds together off the back of Marved, OpTic reduced the lead and tied the score at 8-8. Both teams did the same en route to another tie at 11-11.
Then, while Guild flawlessly cleared out B site defense, OpTic managed to win a 2v4 retake, with crashies at the helm. Unfortunately, Guild shut down the retake by responding quickly, forcing overtime.
With Guild starting OT on defense, Russel “Russ” Mendes and Leo won the opening duels, giving the team an early advantage after a flawless round.
Then, just before Nikita “trexx” Cherednichenko secured the win for Guild, FNS came through with a team-saving 4K, tying the map once more.
OpTic then opened on attack, before Trexx responded with a 4K of his own to keep the game going.
The 3K from @trexxfps takes us to TRIPLE OT 🤯 #VALORANTMasters pic.twitter.com/L7ykOm4Fu4
— VALORANT Champions Tour 🇩🇰 (@ValorantEsports) July 10, 2022
Russ shut down any attempt by OpTic to put the team in the lead again, before Leo ultimately bagged a hectic 4K to finally close the map and give Guild the victory at 16-14.
With this result, OpTic falls to the elimination match of Group A. There they will face Brazilian squad LOUD, whom they swept to win the Masters Reykjavik championship and had lost their own opening match against KRÜ Esports.
Meanwhile, Guild will face KRÜ in the winner's match of Group A for a spot in the playoffs.
Over in Group B, DRX swept Northeption in the group's first opening match. The other opening match featuring FunPlus Phoenix and XERXIA will take place on Day 2.
Masters Copenhagen will see 12 of the top VALORANT teams from all over the world clashing with each other from 10 to 24 July, all for the chance to reign victorious as the Copenhagen champions and claim a spot in VALORANT Champions 2022 in Istanbul come September.
For everything you need to know about Masters Copenhagen, check here.
Feb has been trying to speedrun Super Mario 64 ever since he started playing video games at 11 years old. He has never succeeded, but has completed other video games in the time since. When not playing, he's usually playing music or building Gunpla.
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