The Guard overcome OpTic Gaming to win VCT NA Challengers 1
The Guard bested OpTic Gaming 3-2 in a grueling five map final of VCT 2022 - North America - Stage 1 - Main Event. As a result, they go into Masters Reykjavik as the highest seeded team from North America.
The first map of the series took us to an unusually fast-paced Ascent. The Guard began life on the defensive side in style, picking up the pistol and then silencing OpTic’s force buy. But Pujan "FNS" Mehta did what he does best, calling a rapid hit down middle that caught The Guard by surprise as they stole a round away. Jacob "valyn" Batio knew how important it was to prevent his opposition from gaining any momentum, and he stepped up with three big retake kills the following round and then a 4k on the A site defense. The back and forth continued, with OpTic yet again capitalizing on The Guard’s weak mid presence to grab two rounds, only for valyn and trent to respond with a thrifty B site hold as they moved to an impressive 6-3 lead. When it looked like OpTic were going to lose the half, FNS was on hand yet again, as the in-game leader won a 1v3 clutch and propelled his team to a 6-6 half.
Despite the scores being level, The Guard found themselves sweating, knowing that their attacks on Haven paled in comparison to OpTic Gaming. And the gulf in quality showed, with the latter completely shutting down any form of offensive threat and won five in a row to take it to 11-8. Star man Jaccob "yay" Whiteaker, who ended the map with a 1.46 rating and 24 kills, was omnipresent in mid and A, and even pulled off a B retake with the Operator. The Guard were able to give OpTic a taste of their own medicine, hitting some nice Sheriff shots to grab a thrifty round and give some hope of a comeback. But it was not to be, as OpTic, on the back of Victor "Victor" Wong’s intelligent play in Tree, killed off the half in the next two rounds and took Ascent 13-9.
It was a cold, dark attack for The Guard and Sayaplayer on Ascent and they hoped to change things on chilly Icebox. OpTic chose not to play a duelist, with yay switching to Chamber, who has been increasingly popular among Jett players. It was a fairly balanced start for both teams, with OpTic winning their first pistol of the day and The Guard winning the following force and bonus. But it was deja vu for valyn and co, as they failed to find a way around the defense for five rounds straight with yay’s OP tormenting them yet again. It was time for The Guard to reach into their stratbook for their own map pick and they did, completely flipping the tables and pulling back four rounds of their own to level things up at the half.
The Guard pulled off an interesting mid push on the pistol round, flanking OpTic and running them over on B, and followed it up with an anti-eco win as well. It came down to the all-important bonus, and the firepower of Michael "neT" Bernet was on full display, as they converted it to go to a 9-6 lead. Things were looking comfortable for The Guard, but that was when OpTic’s thrifty struck again, and they came back with a couple to a 9-8 scoreline. A double through the Viper’s Pit saw trent win a round for The Guard and that was what they needed to take full control of the game again. Save for one OpTic round, The Guard adapted well and hit all the necessary shots to seal the map 13-9 and level the series at 1-1.
The Guard brought their dominance into OpTic Gaming’s pick of Breeze, winning the pistol round with a retake and then getting a double OP setup with Sayaplayer’s Jett and net’s Chamber to snowball into a 7-0 defense lead. Victor finally had his way, getting a 3k post-plant to get his team on the board. But it felt like The Guard just could not miss a beat, making quick work of OpTic the next round. Jonah "JonahP" Pulice’s KAY/O kept outclassing Marved’s Skye on A and made the site his fortress, and even though he faltered on the retake in the last round, The Guard still held a dominant 10-2 lead at the break.
The Guard chose the A site to be the final battleground on Breeze, hitting it on all three short rounds of the half to wrap up the map 13-2 and take the lead in the series for the second time at 2-1.
OpTic were now back against the wall as they set up their defense on Split. Having to bounce back mentally from a thrashing on the previous map, they made a great start here, picking up four in a row. The FNS-led team ran an interesting composition, with Victor on Neon and Marved back on Astra, that helped them press the advantage to a 7-0 lead. The Guard finally found a response as they shut down OpTic’s attempt at taking A main control, and they parlayed that into another round to get it to 7-2. OpTic took a timeout to make sure the comeback wasn’t on, and it worked out perfectly, as they won the next round on the back of yay’s Operator heroics and rounded off the half at 9-3.
OpTic Gaming picked off where they started, grabbing the pistol round with an A hit and then winning the anti-eco with a solid crossfire setup in mid. In a dangerous spot with OpTic 11-3 up, The Guard changed gears with their rifles, stringing together four rounds in a row on the back of great retake setups and they looked good to make their way back. But OpTic had a deadly thrifty round up their sleeve, and in heartbreaking fashion they suppressed The Guard’s hopes and slammed the map shut 13-7.
The final showdown of this marathon took place on Haven, a very potent map for either side, both having beaten Cloud9 on it earlier. The triple flash combination of Breach, Skye, and Omen to enable retakes made their way onto both compositions as well. OpTic Gaming raced into a 4-0 lead with Victor leading the way with Neon, always taking away space from The Guard and breaking map timings with the High Gear. valyn and co. finally got a round on the board with a quick C site retake that caught OpTic out of position, and even though they brought it back to 4-2, The Guard were never really in a strong economic position and kept trading rounds to end the half at 4-8.
The second half started with a crazy pistol round where FNS bagged three kills after he went unchecked by The Guard’s attack, but the latter were able to steal the following anti-eco and then go on a ridiculous seven round win streak on the back of Sayaplayer’s incredible Jett plays, who himself ended the map at 28 kills and a 316 ACS. The former T1 man was a menace with the rifle and constantly found openings across the map. OpTic Gaming answered back to make it 10-11, but tactical tweaks which saw The Guard pivot to B site hits were too much for the men in green to handle. As if Sayaplayer hadn’t done enough, at 12-11 in a 1v3 situation, the Korean Jett pulled off a breathtaking play to win The Guard the map 13-11 and the series 3-2.
_1611007730948.png&w=64&q=75 "VCT 2022 - North America - Stage 1 - Main Event")
Marved
yay
Sayaplayer
The win sees The Guard pick up their first major trophy and book them a favorable spot in the upcoming VCT 2022 - Stage 1 - Masters Reykjavík.
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