OpTic Gaming players Pujan “FNS” Mehta and Austin “crashies” Roberts have tested positive for COVID-19, they confirmed on Twitter today.
The team is set to play XSET in the upper bracket final of the VCT NA Stage 2 Challengers playoffs on June 25. The stakes couldn’t be higher in the upcoming match — the winner will be the first North American team to secure a spot at Masters Copenhagen in July.
This isn’t the first time OpTic have had to play with a player suffering from COVID. At Valorant Champions last year, Victor “Victor” Wong also came down with a coronavirus infection, and OpTic ended up exiting the tournament early in the group stage.
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OpTic Gaming players FNS and crashies are COVID-19 positive
On top of that, star player Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker tweeted that he might have caught the coronavirus as well.
“Two of my teammates have COVID confirmed and I might have caught it too,” he said. “Will do our best tomorrow.”
Only four teams remain in the playoffs: OpTic, NRG, XSET, and FaZe Clan. The reigning Masters Reykjavik champions are heavy favorites to secure one of NA’s two spots at Copenhagen. They have carried their form over into Stage 2, only dropping one series in the group stage and playoffs.
However, XSET are not a team to be underestimated. With a 4-1 record in the group stage and a dominant win over 100 Thieves in the playoffs, they’re looking to finally break their fourth-place curse and make it to an international event.
OpTic are also not the only team to have been affected by the coronavirus. Yesterday, NRG announced that the team had a “potential COVID-19 exposure” earlier this week and would be taking the extra precaution of sending everyone home from their bootcamp early.
NRG will play their elimination match against FaZe Clan from their respective homes on June 25.
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