OpTic FNS Ridicules 'Terrible' VALORANT Masters Format

OpTic's VALORANT roster has fallen into the organisation in a way typical of the Green Wall; nothing in OpTic is ever done the easy way and despite the roster, previously operating under the Team Envy banner, being adept enough to make it to the Final of the VCT 2021 Masters 3, their road at Champions was thwarted by back-to-back losses at the hands of X10 Critical and Acend.

Fast-forwarding to the current 2022 season, OpTic had the chance to completely miss out on the Group Stages of Master 1 and completely bypass the hurdle which they stumbled over previously - thanks to a questionable rule change for the brand-new format.

Their Challengers Final loss to The Guard saw the Green Wall have to fight through the gauntlet of Group Stages once again. Despite comfortably making Playoffs this time around, OpTic's Pujan "FNS" Mehta has now slammed the "terrible" VCT format, which awarded teams with byes.

OpTic FNS Slams VCT Masters 1 Format

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Following their victory over XERXIA, OpTic now face a tie with The Guard, who were automatically seeded in the Playoffs stages through beating OpTic in the Challengers Final. This format is the first time that a team has received automatic byes into the Playoff stages, and it hasn't gone down too well. 

"I don't think any team should just make playoffs," FNS said in a post-match press conference. "I think every team should have to play Group Stages and earn their spot in Playoffs. But that's not the fault of the teams or anything. I just think it's a terrible format in that sense. They should not do that."

"I think even if we won the final versus The Guard online I still would be saying that that's a ridiculous thing that any team can just make the playoffs right from online play and not having to play Group Stages," he continued. 

However, automatic Playoffs seeding does come as a double-edged sword, as OpTic now have three games warm-up in the LAN setting under their belt, with The Guard now having to start cold, something which OpTic are looking to capitalise on.

"I do feel like there is like some advantage. I think for our team, usually, we kind of start slow," admitted FNS' teammate Jaccob "yay" Whiteaker. "For us, we get that out of the way now, so we can keep building and keep building and writing momentum."

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The rematch against The Guard will lay to rest whether the pros outweigh the cons of being automatically seeded in Playoffs, although there will also be a certain revenge factor for OpTic, making this one of the first truly must-watch ties in Reykjavik.