Team Secret leaves mark in maiden VCT Pacific League

SEOUL — Team Secret may have ended the Valorant Challengers Tour (VCT) Pacific League at fifth to sixth place, but the Adobo Gang certainly left their mark during the first season of the Pacific League.

In danger of missing the playoffs, Team Secret pinned its hopes of advancing to securing wins in the regular season's Super Week. It was an uphill battle as they were up against top-seeded team DRX, which at that point did not have a single loss.

In what is considered the biggest upset of the regular season, Team Secret defied the impossible and swept the Korean powerhouse, 2-0. The Filipino squad then went on a three-match winning streak by sweeping Global Esports, 2-0, to book their playoff ticket and survived a close game against Japan's ZETA Division in yet another upset sweep in the first playoffs match.

The Cinderella run came to an end when DRX avenged its earlier defeat against Team Secret. The Filipi gamers dropped to the lower brackets where Gen.G Esports eventually eliminated them.

Though Team Secret bowed out early in the tournament playoffs, the Adobo Gang made quite an impression in the Asia-Pacific region. 

Asked which team they struggled the most against in the entire tournament, DRX captain Kim "Stax" Gu-taek and his teammate and regular season MVP Kim "MaKo" Myeong-kwan pointed to Team Secret versus other Southeast Asian representative Paper Rex, who had defeated them the championship. 

“I think Team Secret was one of the hardest teams to play because they are one of the few teams that play like us. They're a really strong team,” said Stax. 

The two squads faced each other again in the Upper Bracket quarterfinals, with Team Secret taking the first map and putting DRX in danger of falling to the lower brackets. The Koreans regained their composure and successfully secured a reverse sweep to book their ticket to Valorant Masters in Tokyo but the win wasn’t an easy one. 

“Team Secret has all the basics [in Valorant] mastered. It was kind of hard to keep up with them sometimes. Playing them, I definitely felt the pressure,” Stax added.

Team Secret will hope to qualify for Valorant Champions Los Angeles via the last Chance Qualifiers happening in South Korea this July.