I guess the saying ‘history repeats itself’ reigns true as OpTic beat DRX in the exact same fashion as last Masters in a rather memorable Valorant slew of matches.

Describing OpTic Gaming‘s current run in Masters Copenhagen as déjà vu is a drastic understatement. As of right now, OpTic’s series record and the bracket path it literally identical to Masters Reykjavík earlier this year.

Just like last time, OpTic met DRX in the upper bracket semi-finals to fight for their place in the Top 4. Last time, DRX failed to close out the series after winning Map 1 and unfortunately for the Korean side, they fail once again.

DO check out our STAGE 2 MASTERS SCHEDULE

optic absolutely obliterated

With Map 1 being OpTic’s signature pick of Fracture, DRX completely destroyed the GreenWall in an impressive 13–4. DRX looked unstoppable round after round, reaching double digits without conceding a single round. Regardless of OpTic’s Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker accumulating eight first bloods throughout the map with Chamber, it still wasn’t enough.

ANOTHER CLUTCH! @Buzz_kr | #VALORANTMasters pic.twitter.com/FgkQ0w68SQ

— VALORANT Champions Tour ?? (@ValorantEsports) July 17, 2022

DRX’s turn to get dismantled

In stark contrast, DRX’s map pick of Breeze was next and it seemed that OpTic wanted to give the Korean a taste of their own medicine.

Clean pistol round win @OpTic | #VALORANTMasters pic.twitter.com/3Dz3OFZIN1

— VALORANT Champions Tour ?? (@ValorantEsports) July 17, 2022

OpTic started off hot with an impressive pistol round followed by eight consecutive round wins before DRX were finally able to take two rounds off of the GreenWall. With the half closing out at 10–2, DRX were hopeful for a momentum reset going into the second half. It would turn out that being hopeful wouldn’t be enough as after winning the initial two rounds, OpTic would close out the map with the same score they themselves got dealt 13–4.

Both Teams at full throttle

With both teams now firing on all cylinders, the deciding map was played on Bind. Straight off the bat, it was obvious that DRX’s attempt to gain momentum in the first round was to play around the A site, but OpTic was quick to adapt and thwarted the attack, winning the round flawlessly.

With yay’s Chamber consistently getting first bloods, OpTic also saw their main entry, Victor “Victor” Wong put up good numbers in terms of first bloods as well. The half closed out at 8–4 in favour of OpTic.

The GreenWall was definitely confident and it had seemed that they had maintained momentum as they won the first two rounds of the second half, but like a corned dog, DRX held their own and managed to take seven out of the next eight rounds tieing the score at 11–11.

Now we had seen something similar the last time these two powerhouses clashed back in Iceland. DRX took Map 1 and OpTic replied by taking Map 2 resulting in a third map. This decider made it all the way to overtime due to OpTic failing to close out in the first 24 rounds, but luckily for them, overtime played out in OpTic’s favour as they managed to secure the win with a score of 15–13.

This time around OpTic weren’t too keen on letting this go to overtime and the boys over at OpTic buckled up and managed to win the last two rounds, securing themselves a spot in the upper bracket final.

With a Top 4 secured, OpTic will go on to face the Southeast Asian powerhouse that is Paper Rex on 22 July at 11:00 PM (GMT+8).

DRX fans do not fret as the Koreans do have a second chance in the lower bracket where they will be pitted against FunPlus Phoenix. A team who has just begun their lower bracket run. You can catch that game on 19 July at 2:00 AM (GMT+8).

For more VCT 2022 action, head over to our full schedule and livestream feature page.