Marved and Yay showed exactly what OpTic Gaming are capable of in their win against Kru Esports at VCT Masters 1.
OpTic Gaming took down Kru Esports in a thrilling 2 - 0 match in the first elimination match of VCT Masters 1 in Reykjavik.
The Greenwall were on the road to redemption after their shock defeat at the hands Xerxia Esports in their first match. Kru on the other hand, had been on the losing end of their match against Team Liquid, who booked their place in the knockout phase of the tournament yesterday.
Yay puts Kru in a Bind on Map 1
Starting off the match we headed to Bind for what we thought would be a brawl in the desert. Kru got off to a decent start by winning the opening two rounds of the half. However, what soon followed was pure domination from the side of OpTic, as they won the next 7 rounds in a row. Large in part due to Jaccob "Yay" Whiteaker putting on a Chamber masterclass.
Kru managed to scrape together a couple more rounds of their own. But it was not enough to keep OpTic from going into halftime with an 8 - 4 lead. Things didn't get much better for the LATAM team as OpTic came out swinging in the second half by winning 4 rounds in a row; including an insane 2 v 5 from Yay and Jimmy "Marved" Nyugen. Kru managed to win a round of their own, which ultimately served to reduce the deficit as OpTic took Bind 13 - 5. With Yay finishing the map with a total of 28 kills to his name.
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Marved clutchs big-time for OpTic on Ascent
Things were not looking good for Kru after falling to OpTic on their map pick. They were now heading into Ascent. A map that has been fairly up and down for Kru stat wise.
Kru won the opening two rounds to kick things off. And while OpTic managed to win the bonus round once more, that didn't seem to trouble Kru much this time. From that point on Ascent turned into a scrap for control, with Kru managing to carve out a decent lead. But thanks to some heads up plays from Marved on the Omen, OpTic were at least able to reduce the deficit; with Kru going into the half with a 7 - 5 lead.
OpTic got off to a much better start in the second half, as they won the first two rounds of to tie the score at 7 - 7; with Yay getting a nasty 4k with the Marshall. Things got scrappy between the two teams once more in the game. But this time it felt as though all of the momentum was beginning to shift in the Greenwall's favor. And OpTic made that count for them, as they went on to win Ascent 13 - 10, the series 2 - 0, and condemned Kru Esports to a very early exit at VCT Masters 1.
OpTic FNS: "We have a pretty confident playstyle, and I think we also have that demeanor as well. We know what we are capable of and we showed it"
With this win under their belt, OpTic will be moving on to the Group B Decider Match. Where they will be once again facing Xerxia Esports. The NA side looked a team full of renewed confidence throughout the match. A feeling which was echoed by OpTic's Pujan "FNS" Mehta's post-match interview.
"We were pretty confident going into the game, but then we were confident going into the game with Xerxia. We have a pretty confident playstyle, and I think we also have that demeanor as well. We know what we are capable of and we showed it."
FNS was quick to heap praise on his teammate Marved for his performance on Ascent with the Omen. But was just as quick to shine the spotlight on their coach Chet "Chet" Singh for the part he played in helping them turn things around on Ascent. "We don't do the whole motivational speaking thing, we just call plays," he said. "We were just like 'hey we're going to do this to fix it and win the round.' We just kind of follow whatever Chet calls."
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