FunPlus Phoenix have toppled the reigning VALORANT Champions Tour Masters champions, OpTic Gaming, at Masters Copenhagen. FPX beat OpTic 3-1 in the lower bracket final, eliminating the North American team and advancing to the grand final.
FPX have also denied OpTic the chance to become the first team to win multiple international VCT events. The NA first seed will head home and start thinking about Champions 2022, which they have already qualified for based on circuit points.
FPX are headed to the grand final. There they will face Paper Rex, who booked their ticket after beating OpTic in the upper bracket final.
FPX best a tournament favorite in OpTic
The best of five series started heavily in FPX’s favor. Both Map 1 and 2 — Split and Icebox — went their way and neither was particularly close. Andrey “Shao” Kiprsky put on a clinic on Split, and Ardis “ardiis” Svarenieks then took his own turn to carry on Icebox. Finally, OpTic mounted a response on Bind; led by Austin “crashies” Roberts, they stormed their way to a 13-6 win.
Map 4 was Fracture, which started with a 6-0 run for FPX. From there, try as OpTic might they couldn’t close the distance. Even a strong showing from OpTic’s star Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker wasn’t enough.
“For OpTic, we went in with less preparation,” FPX’s coach Erik “d00mbr0s” Sandgren said in the post-game interview. “Some light preparation, some light ideas and then some more on the fly calls.”
With OpTic out, the grand final will crown a new Masters victor. Neither Paper Rex nor FPX have ever won themselves an international trophy. In fact, it’s the first Masters grand final for both teams. One of the two teams will join the ranks of Sentinels, Gambit Esports, Acend and OpTic Gaming as the teams that have won an international VCT event.
“Paper Rex is a scary opponent,” d00mbr0s said. “We just have to have a good fundamental game plan and quality VALORANT. And hopefully we can beat them because they’re very aggressive.”
The grand final between Paper Rex and FPX will take place at 11 a.m. ET on July 24.
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