XSET Accuses OpTic of Allegedly Abusing Tech Pauses in Their Matchup

After their tough 1-2 loss, XSET accused OpTic Gaming of allegedly abusing technical pauses in their matchup.

This came after XSET’s IGL Rory “dephh” Jackson answered a question in a press conference regarding whether or not OpTic used any mind games in their most recent matchup.

“I think the only mind games that OpTic use are finding ways to [call a] tech pause during pretty big rounds or before big rounds,” Dephh claimed. “Seems like every time we play those guys there’s a tech pause. Obviously, a lot of that stuff is out of their hands or whatever.”

Dephh was referring to the two technical pauses OpTic called throughout their upper semifinals bout, one during the second game at Ascent and one during the third game at Pearl.

Furthermore, XSET’s head coach Don “SyykoNT” Muir also backed his player’s statement and further revealed that he actually brought this up to Riot Games.

“Tech pause after we get a win and tech pause after I call [a timeout]… You know, it’s intentional and, in my eyes, it’s [an] abuse of the rule set,” SyykoNT stated.

When OpTic learned about this, OpTic’s players then took to Twitter to express their displeasure about the said accusation.

What poor sportsman ship by XSET, we don’t need to cheat to beat you guys sorry. If our PC doesn’t work we will pause and riot wouldn’t allow us to abuse it without seeing it themselves pic.twitter.com/5k7jnLZgxj

— OpTic Chet (@chetsingh) September 12, 2022

ggs 2-1 vs @XSET

I’m a little sad we’re being accused of using technical pauses for advantage. had an admin confirming the issue and witnessing it first hand.

all good tho. we play our brothers at @LOUDgg next

— OpTic yay (@yayFPS) September 12, 2022

Fortunately, both Dephh and SyykoNT owned up to their statements and frankly apologized to their fellow North American representatives. Moreover, both of them attributed their comments to the “heat of the moment” and ultimately gave props to to their opponent’s perfomance.

I have always been one to own up to mistakes and this is no different. To react like that in a press conference after our loss to optic wasn’t acceptable and I take full responsibility of my actions. We should have addressed our concerns to the proper channels instead /1

— XSET dephh (@dephhgg) September 13, 2022

1-2 to OpTic – GG’s to them, they were better today and earned the win.

I also apologize for comments made in heat of the moment in the post-match conference. The timing of the tech pauses was frustrating but I dont want to minimize OpTics win, they played well and gave (1/3)

— XSET Syykoᴺᵀ @ 🇹🇷🤫 (@SyykoNT) September 13, 2022

With their loss against OpTic, XSET dropped down to the lower bracket of VALORANT Champions 2022 where they will face EMEA’s FunPlus Phoenix. Meanwhile, OpTic will continue their upper bracket run where their next matchup would be against Brazil’s LOUD.

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