XSET prove doubters wrong in VCT Masters Copenhagen qualification

XSET managed to qualify for their first Valorant Champions Tour Masters event after over a year of coming up short and finishing just shy of qualification. According to some of the longest standing members on the team, this has been a long time coming.

XSET jumped into Valorant in July 2020 with Jordan “AYRIN” He and coach Don “SyykoNT” Muir on the roster then added its current roster over the course of 2021 and 2022.

“We know we’re the hardest working team on the server, we know we had the talent to do it,” He said after the team beat OpTic Gaming 3-1. “We saw this moment and it happened and it feels good to be here.”

Cody Gan

XSET competed in person at the NA VCT LCQ tournament in 2021.

The team’s current in-game leader, Rory “dephh” Jackson, joined the North American squad in June 2021 and has experienced XSET come close to qualifying for a major event in the 2021 VCT circuit and the last VCT Stage 1 Challengers tournament.

“It’s great to like put down the naysayers and and finally achieved what we’ve been working towards like for so long now,” the IGL said.

• Read More: Valorant players prepare for first matches in front of fans at VCT Masters: “It’s been a very long time”

XSET had one of their best run of form leading up to their qualification to Masters Copenhagen, leaving the group stage with a 4-1 record and only losing to OpTic in the playoff stage.

In 2021, XSET was two series away from qualifying to 2021 Valorant Champions and one series away from VCT Masters Berlin in 2021 before losing to Envy, now OpTic, in the lower bracket finals.

XSET look towards potential VCT Masters opponents

With the top seed from North America, XSET will bypass the group stage and seed directly into the playoff stage of the event if the Stage 1 Masters format is used. With that the team will play the seven best teams left in the tournament.

XSET players and their head coach have pointed to a few teams across VCT that they would like to test themselves against in the playoff stage.

“I want to play Paper Rex, [Wang Jing “Jinggg” Jie]’s team, I think that guy gets away with murder and he’s not going to get away with it against us,” XSET’s head coach Don “SyykoNT” Muir said.  “And we’re ready to show that off the bat, so I hope we play them first they look like an easy matchup. But other than that, I’d love to play [DRX] those guys have been incredible for so long.”

• Read More: dephh: It’s time for XSET to “break through and say ‘f**k y’all’”

Paper Rex and DRX both earned top seeds out of APAC and South Korea respectively. DRX finished in the playoff stage at VCT Stage 1 Masters while Paper Rex placed fourth.

AYRIN, on the other hand, wants to end the rivalry between European and North American teams for good, calling out Fnatic as a squad that he wants to match up with.

“I want to play against Fnatic.” The former CrossFire player said. “They have some of the supposedly best players in the world right now and for us, we’re looking to win the event so we want to play the best of the best and I’d love to prove that EU is not as good as NA.”

Masters Copenhagen will start on July 10 with the group stage as the 12 qualified teams compete for circuit points and the purple trophy.