OpTic Gaming remain undefeated since winning Masters: Reykjavík with a 2–1 victory against Cloud9 during the VCT Challengers 2 group stage. 

Cloud9 recently traded South Korean player Son “xeta” Seon-ho for T1’s Rahul “curry” Nemani before their matchup against OpTic. They had previously played their opening match of groups against Evil Geniuses with xeta still on the roster, which they won 2–0. OpTic, on the other hand, is coming off a 2–0 victory against FaZe Clan after winning Masters: Reykjavík and has not made any roster changes.

Icebox opened the best of three series, chosen by Cloud9. Despite having a new member on the roster, C9 looked clinical on the frozen map. They took the lead at the half, starting things out 8–4 and refused to let OpTic take another round for the remainder of the map to finish 13–4. Erick “Xeppaa” Bach was the star player of the first map with a 2.44 KD on Fade, dropping 22 kills and only nine deaths.

The second map of the series, on the other hand, Ascent, was a direct opposite of Icebox and felt like Cloud9 could never get their footing. Ascent had been picked by OpTic Gaming and they showcased how much practice they had on the map by taking a six-round lead at the half. That momentum carried into the second half and saw C9 manage just two rounds as OpTic closed it out 13–5.

Haven was the decider map and started much closer than the last two.

The half ended in a tie meaning that either team could walk away with the series win. C9 started the second half strong with four consecutive rounds but was unable to stop the bleeding as OpTic took the next seven rounds to win the map 13–10 and the series 2–1.

OpTic Gaming’s next VALORANT match will be against Sentinels on May 28 while Cloud9’s next match will be against FaZe Clan on May 29.

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