Filipino VALORANT weekly round-up: NAOS ascends vs. Xipto; ZOL, Team Secret suffer opening day loss
Filipino VALORANT weekly round-up: NAOS ascends vs. Xipto; ZOL, Team Secret suffer opening day loss
MANILA – Southeast Asian VALORANT scene starts with a bang as both the VALORANT Challengers 2025 SEA Split 1’s Group Stage and the VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 Pacific Kickoff conclude their Week 1 matches.
Filipino teams raised their flags once again as PH-based Team Secret started their VCT campaign while both NAOS Esports and ZOL Esports competed in the VCL.
NAOS trips Markl, Xipto to in Group Stage clash
Filipino side NAOS Esports began their journey on the right foot as they swept Xipto Esports in their season opener last Thursday.
The team managed to keep a solid lead inside Bind to get a 1-0 lead against Xipto, as new arrival Patrick “PatMen” Mendoza announced his arrival with 21 kills using Gekko.
It was a closer battle in Split to start Game 2, with Xipto even leading 8-6 thanks to Amirul “Fixy” Zaqwan’s Raze plays, but was not enough as NAOS delivered six straight round wins.
Jerome “Mojer” Literal’s own Raze gameplay led them this time, getting 19 kills and game-leading 271 ACS, with PatMen leading the kill count with 21.
It was a tough night for Mark “MarkL” Lester who only got 164 ACS in two games using Cypher and Viper.
NAOS will have a tougher Week 2 ahead of them as they will face Thai side FULL SENSE, who finished 5th-6th in their last VCT SEA campaign.
ZOL concede against Z11 in two
It was a completely different story in Group B, as ZOL Esports lost their opening match against Thailand’s Z11.
Z11, who entered the scene through the Open Qualifiers, started Game 1 with an 8-4 domination of ZOL before the break in Abyss..
Even a 16-kill performance from Yousef Imad “Hotsauz” El-Yousef’s Vyse wasn’t enough as Z11 won Game 1 13-7, with “endoist” leading the charge with 18 kills on Jett.
Game 2 in Haven started on the wrong foot for ZOL as Z11 won the first nine matches to end the first half 9-3.
It took them only a while to win the series with ZOL unable to catch the massive lead, winning only five matches in the second half as Hotsauz’s Omen leading the charge with 18 kills.
ZOL still has room for improvement in Group B as they will have a match next Thursday against Oblivion Force.
JessieVash’s milestone spoiled by Global Esports
Jessie Cristy “JessieVash” Cuyco achieved a career-total 1000 kills in the VCT Pacific scene on Saturday.
However, Global Esports pulled a 2-1 reverse sweep versus Team Secret to spoil his personal achievement.
It was indeed abyss for Global though in Game 1 as the Adobo Gang limited them to just three wins while they tallied seven straight wins to close Game 1.
Jeremy “Jremy” Cabrera’s Jett put up 21 kills and a game-high 364 ACS leading all players.
Split became a different story for Global as they managed to have an 8-4 win at the break in Game 2, including six straight wins.
Team Secret found the first-half lead too massive in the second half as Global closed them 13-7 with Go “UdoTan” Kyung-won’s Raze leading the charge with 21 kills.
GE started strong in Pearl, coming at 8-4 before the lead, while Team Secret trailed all game to finish the series with a 13-6 beatdown.
Savva “Kr1stal” Fedorov’s Sova delivered 14 kills and a team-high 225 ACS, while Adrian “Jiggs” Reyes’ Kayo was only limited to six kills.
Team Secret will have to fight their way back from the lower bracket in a Sunday match against a yet-to-be-determined opponent.
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