Filipinas remained queens of Pacific Valorant as Xipto Esports GC took the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Pacific Game Changers trophy after overpowering South Korea’s Ninetails, 3-1, in the grand finals held offline at the Imperial Samrong Convention Hall in Thailand.
Featuring four Filipino players – Leanne “Grahams” Ti-in, Loraine “Kon” Pagente, Kim “PIETY” De Guia and Mary “capriciouS” Sabado – with Thai player Surassawadee “Yxqme” Khongpechdee and head coach Nikhil “Sieh” Bhansali, Xipto Esports GC went on a map streak, sweeping all of its opponents, 2-0, heading into the grand finals.
The Filipino-laden squad also defeated tournament favorite Falcons Vega – also with fellow Filipinos Alexandria “Alexy” Francisco and Camille “Kamiyu” Enriquez – and dropped them to the lower bracket.
The other Filipino-fueled squad fell short of the grand finals as they it was unable to survive Ninetails in the lower bracket finals, 2-3. The team also failed to qualify to Valorant Game Changers Champions, to which Francisco and Enriquez have been present the past two years.
As the last Filipinos left in the tournament, Xipto Esports started the series strong on Bind, taking an eight-consecutive-round win on its defensive side that even though Ninetails had a better defensive side, Xipto Esports was able to take the opening map, 13-9.
On Abyss, it looked like things were a replay from the first map. But Ninetails’ offensive side secured it a six-consecutive-round win to take the lead and eventually tie the series at 9-13, handing Xipto Esports its first map defeat of the tournament.
XIpto Esports’ map pick of Haven saw a close series with only a round separating both squads at the half. But Xipto Esports’ offensive was too much for the South Korean team, bringing Xipto Esports to match point at 13-6.
Hoping to extend the series, Ninetails managed a round lead at their map pick of Corrode, but Xipto Esports fired back with an impressive offensive side to close out the series at 13-7.
With the win, Xipto Esports is also the top Pacific team heading into the culminating event of Valorant Game Changers – the Game Changers Champions happening in Seoul, South Korea in November.