The Guard won the NA VCT Challenger One

The Guard won the VCT Challenger One NA after defeating Optic gaming in the finals. “Sayaplayer” clutched it for team Guard in the waning seconds of the deciding map to win one of Valorant’s most thrilling matchups. Despite their valiant attempts, Optic Gaming lost the 5-match series and the championship title in the last moments of Haven.

Match 1 –  Ascend

On Ascend, the best-of-five match series kicked into gear. The stakes were gigantic, and The Guard responded by taking a 2-0 lead early on. By winning the third round, Optic Gaming attempted to get back on track. However, they were unable to tie the game, and the Guard went on to win the following round.

Valyn’s clutch was the highlight of round 5, he knocked out FNC, Marved, and Victor single-handedly to gain a 4-2 lead over team Optic Gaming. The team won the next two rounds as well and the score was 6-2 in the favour of The Guard after round 8. Optic gaming bounced back and tied the scoreline 6-6 at the end of the first half.

The following four rounds of the second half similarly ended in an 8-8 tie. Both teams strived in the following rounds to acquire an advantage over the competitor, but only Optic Gaming succeeded. They controlled the rest of the game, winning the first map 13-9 and taking a 1-0 lead in the best of five series finals.

Match 2 – Icebox

Optic gaming began the first half of Icebox in the same aggressive fashion. The squad jumped out to a 6-2 lead early on, but they couldn’t keep it for long. Trent and Valyn were outstanding in the first half, assisting the squad in tying the score at 6-6.

Trent and Valyn, along with Sayaplayer, hammered the Optic gaming team back and forth in the second half, supporting the team in achieving a key 9- 6 advantage. Crashies, who had a tremendous 1 vs 2 in round 17, was one of the standout performers for Optic Gaming. They won two rounds in a row as their final attempt before the Guard claimed the map by a score of 13-9. 

Match 3 – Breeze

In the first half of Breeze, the Guard stormed through Optic Gaming and took a commanding 7-0 lead. Victor’s 1v2 helped Optic Gaming win round 8, but the rest of the team were helpless in the next rounds as well. With a 13-2 score, the guard dominated the map, and repeated clutches by Saraplayer and JonahP demonstrated Guard’s supremacy on Breeze.

Match 4 – Split

The Guard was only one win away from winning the championship, but Optic Gaming annihilated The Guards in the first half of Split, winning 7 consecutive rounds. JonahP and Sayaplayer attempted to staunch the bleeding by winning two rounds in a row. Optics took the following three rounds and the Guard took the final round to finish the first half with a score of 10-3.

In the second half, the Guard staged a much-needed comeback by winning four straight rounds. The score was 11-7 when “yay” and “crashies” thrashed team Guard in the following two rounds, winning the map 13-7.

Match 5 – Haven

The best-of-five series came down to the last map, which was Haven. Optic Gaming went on a killing rampage in the first half, taking an 8-4 lead. The Guard reclaimed the lead swiftly and once again showed why they are one of the most dominant teams in the NA region. “Sayaplayer” stepped up his game with Jett’s Ultimate, pulling off an incredible 1 vs 2 clutch to tie the map at 9-9.

The Guard caught Optic Gaming off guard and won the next two rounds as well, but crashies and yay won the next round in retaliation. Optic Gaming was one round short of tying the score and both teams added another round to their side, bringing the game to a thrilling 12-11 finish. Net attempted to fend off the onslaught by knocking out Victor and Marved, but he was quickly overrun by crashies, leaving Sayaplayer as The Guards’ last man standing in round 24

Sayaplayer was up against the three Optic gaming players, but he was more than enough to shatter their hopes. He pulled off a phenomenal one-vs-three clutch, taking out yay, crashies, and FNC to score a thrilling 13-11 victory over Optic Gaming and claim their first Challenger One Series title. The Guard will compete alongside Optic Gaming in Master Reykjavik, their first International lane tournament, which will commence on April 4 in Iceland.