Valorant: The Guard Are Your NA VCT Champions

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By: Hypron || Mar 28, 2022

On Sunday, veterans OpTic Gaming faced off against rising rookie squad The Guard in the North American VALORANT Champions Tour Stage 1 playoff finals to see who would take the title of current best. Both teams had already qualified for VCT Masters 1 in Reykjavik, Iceland, but this match would decide seeding and bragging rights for the first international VCT LAN event in 2022. Finally, The Guard won the grand finals and the NA Stage 1 championship.

While both teams will represent North America at Masters 1, the winner of the grand finals will be able to skip straight to the playoffs, rather than having to compete through the group stage. Given their overall inexperience with international tournaments, either team would benefit from such a prize, but The Guard arguably more so. Both teams fought tooth and nail for the top seed spot, extending the series to five maps.

It's @minon501 locking down the map finding 4!@TheGuard | #VCTChallengersNA pic.twitter.com/nw9wo61yXK
— VALORANT Champions Tour NA (@valesports_na) March 27, 2022

The grand finals have begun on Ascent. The Guard took an early lead, but OpTic quickly caught up. Both teams traded rounds fairly evenly until the twentieth, when OpTic began to find their stride while The Guard began to falter. The Green Wall eventually won the first map 13-9.

The Guard began their comeback at Icebox. OpTic appeared to be on a roll after winning the first six rounds in a row, but The Guard wasn’t about to sit back and let it happen. At the end of the first half, they began stacking rounds and used that momentum to push through for the map win, 13-9.

The Guard, like OpTic on Icebox, used their winning momentum to win the first seven rounds of Breeze in a row. However, unlike their more experienced counterparts, the rookie squad was able to convert this into a second map victory. On Breeze, the Guard appeared to be in complete control, easily holding off OpTic to finish the map 13-2.

.@yayFPS finds both frags needed to close out the round!@OpTic | #VCTChallengersNA pic.twitter.com/ehUuiSCa0C
— VALORANT Champions Tour NA (@valesports_na) March 27, 2022

The Guard were poised to win the entire grand final on Split, but OpTic had other ideas. They went on to win seven more rounds before The Guard could even get on the board. OpTic appeared to be attempting to force feed The Guard a taste of their own blowout medicine early in the round, but the rookie squad fought back. They brought their score up to a valiant seven rounds, but were unable to advance, falling 13-7 to OpTic.

The seeding fates of OpTic and The Guard’s Masters were decided by Haven. OpTic got off to a strong start, pulling ahead slightly, but The Guard was able to claw it back, eventually tying things up 9-9. They were able to use this momentum to pass OpTic, reaching an 11-9 lead, but the veteran team quickly reclaimed the round. The Guard reached match point first, but OpTic refused to back down, forcing The Guard’s Ha “Sayaplayer” Jung-woo into a three-on-one match that he couldn’t win.

That wasn’t the case in the following round, as Sayaplayer won the Redbull Clutch in another four-on-one battle to take the map and the series. The Guard are the NA Stage 1 champions and will begin their run in the playoff stage at Masters 1 Reykjavik, whereas OpTic will have to play through groups.

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