doesn't really matter when the NA teams take all the spots from the BR and LATAM frauds

It was the first day of VCT Stage 2 Masters: Copenhagen, and everything was going to plan for reigning champions OpTic Gaming. All four PlatChat analysts predicted an OpTic win vs their opponents, EMEA's third seed Guild. The map picks didn't seem detrimental, and the game began with them feeling confident they would emerge victorious. But the game didn't get off to a good start. Guild took 7 rounds before OpTic scored their first, and although they fought back hard, Guild emerged with a 13-11 win on Icebox. The team was certainly surprised, but they moved on. "Reverse sweep it is", Chet told his team confidently. But the second map, Split, didn't begin any better. 7 rounds on the board again for Guild. OpTic fought back harder this time, and even managed to take it to map point. 12-11. But they couldn't pull through. "All good," FNS typed in all chat just to let Guild know they were ready. The OT rounds were fought hard, and FNS even had a few clutch plays of his own, but in the end, Guild emerged victorious once again, this time 16-14. They had underestimated Guild.

This was unacceptable. Chet couldn't have this. He needed his team to be better. He pulled aside Jaccob "yay" Whiteaker, the team's star player, who had bottom fragged in the match. "You need to do better than this," he told him. "Get some rest, we prepare tomorrow." They would be facing their former grand finals opponents, Brazilian superstar team LOUD.

The next day, they studied both their own VOD vs Guild and LOUD's vs KRÜ. They couldn't lose this. They couldn't make the same mistake again. They had to be ready, and yay had to be on point. He played Aimlabs the whole time while VOD reviewing, because he is yay and he does that. While listening to the oddly soothing sound of the constant clicking from yay's Aimlabs, the team went over each and every round. Every movement was analyzed. And by 9 PM, they felt prepared. Chet sent yay, crashies, Victor, and Marved back to their rooms, and he pulled FNS to the side.

"Don't let them lose this. I know they can do it. I know yay can do it. I know you are ready."
"Yes, Master," said FNS. "We won't let you down. We WILL be the first team to win two Valorant international events."
Chet was satisfied with the response and headed to bed himself.

When the time came for their game vs LOUD, the team was ready. 2-0 sweep. 13-5, 13-4. Yay dropped 62 kills. FNS IGLd practically to perfection. In the Verizon post-match interview, FNS said to the world, just as he had said to Chet, "We will be the first team to win two Valorant international events."

Next up on the chopping block, KRÜ Esports. They had lost to Guild in the upper bracket, but had proven they would be a tough opponent. OpTic didn't have nearly as much time to prepare for this match, but they had already studied KRÜ while reviewing the LOUD game. Chet felt confident in his team's ability. The time for the game arrived, and FNS was ready. He gave flawless calls, and they became the first team in VCT LAN history to back-to-back 13-0 their opponents. EMEA was scared. They could already tell there was no winning this.

OpTic didn't drop a single map for the rest of the tournament, up until the grand final vs Paper Rex. It was 2-2, and OpTic was up 12-11. They were getting Guild flashbacks. The round began, and gradually, Paper Rex picked them off. FNS was left in a 1v5. He knew he had to win this. If it went to OT, their mental would be ruined. This could not be a repeat of the Guild game. FNS planted the spike. 45 seconds, 5 enemies. Jinggg Raze satcheled into the site, and FNS one-tapped him out of the air. Next up, f0rsakeN. He attempted to rush with a Jett dash but was quickly halted by FNS's shorty. Benkai, mindfreak, and d4v41 executed a three-man push with 15 seconds left on the clock. and FNS knew he needed to play for time. Right as Benkai was about to get to the spike, FNS threw a Fade seize, halting the Paper Rex players just long enough to prevent them from getting the spike. He had won the round, the game, the series, the tournament. FNS's words of wisdom had come to fruition. OpTic was the first team in Valorant history to win two international events. The team jumped up from their chairs, and the crowd went wild. They all started screaming FNS's name, and FNS took the microphone and spoke only two words: "all good."

scrim results usually mean very little, like at Masters 1 the streets were saying Zeta was getting destroyed so badly in scrims they got blacklisted unless that was some bs from plat chat

nice pick em, very similar to mine

cold take: APAC_jimmy is wrong once again

Tenz is a cracked aimer but that's it, can't get it done in real matches

I don't think anybody in the playoff stage should realistically be overlooked, like of course teams like FNATIC are your clear favorites but everyone under has a very good chance of making it far if they play to their potential

flying is still pretty exhausting, ppl are exaggerating with the jet lag stuff but he'll def be tired

HOLY SHIT SEN ARE ACTUALLY PRACTICING

2 regional grand finals rematches? Bruh I watch masters tournaments to see interesting matchups

very disappointing performance, but that last match against Optic was a fantastic game

this is the important game, fuck Loud vs Optic this is real valorant

using the operator now is copying Acend?

Crowd is for Upper Finals Lower Finals and Grand Finals

Optic throwing this defense side right now

breach can do the same with his stuns and flash???

I'm fine with the victor raze, the fade/raze combos are deadly on split

I'd rather have stuns than info on split

Kay/0 over breach? I don't see what Kay/0 offers that makes it a better pick over breach

what are they supposed to watch G2? lmao

DRX is the Liquid of valorant

maybe they've cooked some insane comp and have been labbing out some crazy strats, that's the only reason why they would pick the map they went into OT with Gamelanders Blue

imagine aspas and mwzera together

don't ever disrespect Supernova the King of Valorant ever again

easy LOUD comeback, 13-8

if mwzera was here I can guarantee that it would be a 26-0 every match

yay needs to do better, victor isn't the problem here

you've convinced me VAMOS KRU

the thing about Astralis tho was that they had innovated so much with their utility that instead of being like 1 or 2 steps ahead of everyone like Optic was after Masters 1, they were closer to like an entire canyon, and the rest of the field was just trying to slowly get across. Once they reached Astralis, they fell off

the same aspas that went +14 over the WoRlD cHaMpIoN???

if Loud and KRU match up again in the decider idk who to go for, I think Loud is a better team and I like watching them play, but I love the storyline of KRU being undefeated against BR teams

pov: you are a delusional Tenz fan

TenZ is a washed up "fragger" who left his old game CSGO for shitting the bed against T3 teams to switch to Valorant to shit the bed against even more T3 teams

TenZ: fraud
aspas: the truth

tenz is the canadian aspas

It's always hard to stay the best, it's easier to be the challenger than the reigning champion

Plus the valorant meta is always changing, so you need to adapt quickly and you can't rest on your laurels for long

FInally, as the champion you're are going to be the single most VOD reviewed team in the world, I guarantee that every single team post Reykjavik analyzed every single strat and comp Optic used in their run, if they don't innovate you'll be hard read

Aspas greatest AWP in the world???

for AWPers chamber is clearly better, but for entrying potential and flexibility Jett is the best in the game

FNS winning them rounds instead of their star fraggers is a bad sign, not a sustainable way to win

maybe if yay and victor weren't complete bots today they wouldn't need FNS to drop 30

FNS top frag is not a good sign for Optic imo

playing like SEN last year post-Reykjavik

he didn't get the ace smh he's washed drop him and pick up PROD already

basically any AWPer would be gone if you had 2 bans, get rid of chamber and jett and players like yay and cned would be gone

well the second I fucking type this yay just gets 3 on an eco

Loud are playing the patented strategy of "find yay and go away", it is finding lots of value right now

Yay doesn't look normal right now, incredibly off last game and so far isn't hitting the same this match

can't wait for the 2 death bonus round curse to take effect

next thing you know people are going to make curses for normal game occurrences like the pistol round loss curse

absolute insanity

I feel like I believe in Loud more than the Brazilians do