Filipinos on brink of early exit in VCT Pacific Stage 1

MANILA, Philippines — Filipinos failed to secure a win in Week 2 of the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Pacific Stage 1 in Seoul, South Korea.

Opening the week is the all-Filipino roster Team Secret, which wasted a 11-6 lead, conceding the first map to Japan's ZETA Division, 11-13. The Adobo Gang's map pick of Icebox didn't fare any better, with the Japanese team securing five consecutive arounds to bring them to match point. Though Team Secret secured its own round streak, it would eventually absorb its second series loss in the tournament at 10-13.

"What we really really need to work out is our confidence. Right now, like we have skills, we have talent and we have everything right. But every tournament we don't do it. We mess up. We show everything in practice. But if we can't do it in a tournament, then there's a problem. So I think for us, we really need to work on our confidence first,” Team Secret coach Ji "meow" Dong-jun said during the post-match interview.

Team Secret would need to win its remaining matches to advance to the playoffs — a gargantuan task as its matchup is against Masters Bangkok champions, T1.

Filipino player Patrick “PatMen” Mendoza has arrived in South Korea as Paper Rex' sub, but the Southeast Asian team saw another 1-2 defeat this time against Gen.G Esports, leaving it at the same standing as Team Secret and in the bottom of Group Alpha with no series wins yet.

The end of the week saw Global Esports — with three Filipino players Federico "Papi" Evangelista, Kelly "kellyS" Sedillo and Mark "patrickWHO" Musni — suffer a 0-2 defeat at the hands of Ascension team Boom Esports. This  after a poor display on their own map pick of Lotus saw Global Esports at poor performance, losing by a 1-13 margin. Though Global Esports managed to turn things around in Haven, the Indonesian squad had taken enough of a lead to win the map at 11-13.

Up next for Paper Rex is Boom Esports on April 6 at 4 p.m., while Global Esports and Team Secret will be battling current Pacific and Masters champions, DRX and T1, on April 7, at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. respectively.