The first day of the VALORANT Challengers Tour (VCT) 2022 APAC Stage 2 Playoffs saw Paper Rex, Bleed eSports, ONIC G, and Team Secret won against their respective matchups in the Knockouts.
Paper Rex Goes The Distance Against Alter Ego
Paper Rex won the close first game on Bind 13-10. Paper Rex started the game with a quick 6-round win streak before they got dismantled by Alter Ego (AE) on hookah to end the first half 8-4. With AE not backing down, the second half saw AE claim 6 rounds before Paper Rex ended the game on the 23rd round.
Despite that first game win, Paper Rex lost Fracture 14-12 in overtime. Paper Rex’s duelists (Wang Jing “Jinggg” Jie and Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto) made herculean efforts to close the game in their favor. However, AE had different plans and took both overtime rounds to win the game.
With the series tied, it was Paper Rex who came out on top in Icebox 13-7. Both teams showed fantastic performances in the first half as the game was tied 6-6. In the end, Paper Rex stole the game as they took 7 rounds (and only allowed AE a single round) in the second half to win the game and the series.
BLEED eSports Sweeps Griffin E-Sports
Unlike the day’s first series, BLEED simply swept Griffin E-Sports 2-0, which also turned out to be the only series sweep we saw the entire day.
BLEED’s first conquest happened to be on Ascent where they won 13-9. Immediately, BLEED went ballistic as they quickly took eight of the first ten rounds in the first half through the efforts of Lee Jun Hao “LEXY” Xavier (11 kills and 2 assists) and Jacob “pyth” Mourujärvi (10 kills and 1 assist). In the second half, BLEED allowed Griffin to get five rounds first before they decided the game was over and ended it on Round 22.
For the second game, it was pretty much an even bout in Breeze during the first half. It looked like it was going to be the same case during the second half when Griffin took the Bonus Round. However, BLEED domineered and simply took every succeeding round after that. To cap off their dominant run, Derrick “Deryeon” Yee ended the game with a bang as he aced in the last round to win the game and the series for BLEED.
ONIC G Sends BOOM Esports To Lower Bracket
For Indonesian fans, it was both a treat and an unfortunate event to see an el clásico between ONIC G and BOOM Esports on the first day of the Knockouts instead of the grand finals.
It was ONIC who took the first game of the series on Ascent 13-9. With both team compositions the same, it was a pretty even match all throughout. Both Chambers (Hagai Kristen “Lmemore” Yesyurun for ONIC; Saibani “fl1pzjder” Rahmad for BOOM) highlighted the game with their “Battle of the Rendezvous” as they each tried to play mind games against the enemy team.
After that, ONIC had their own tables turned in Split as BOOM took the game 13-9. Just like the first game, the game was pretty much tied for the most part. However, ONIC’s fate was reversed as BOOM simply returned the favor and took the game away from their fellow Indonesian compatriots in pretty much the same way as the first game.
In the end, ONIC prevailed and took Icebox in order to win the series. ONIC had an impressive first half as they took eight rounds and only lost four. From there, they simply waltzed towards victory as they finished the game 13-6 in their favor.
Team Secret Triumphant Against XERXIA Esports
The last series of the day saw Team Secret triumphant against XERXIA Esports in a matchup that went the distance.
Team Secret was initially stomped by XERXIA in Haven 13-6. The situation seemed helpless as Team Secret lost a staggering eleven rounds in the first half. They tried to make it work in the second half as attackers where they claimed five rounds but were ultimately crushed by XERXIA’s might.
Team Secret did not take Game 1’s beating lightly and decided to switch it up in Breeze. The Filipino representatives subbed out Kevin “dispenser” Te in favor of their young sixth-man Jeremy “Jremy” Cabrera. The decision to do so paid dividends as Jremy and Jayvee “DubsteP” Paguirigan worked in tandem to decimate XERXIA. Team Secret went on a nine-round win streak and ended the first half 10-2 in their favor. From there, their indomitable will and performance were simply too much for XERXIA as they won the game dominantly 13-4.
Unlike the first two games, the final victory at Ascent wasn’t a landslide. Team Secret trailed by two in the first half as it was 7-5 in favor of XERXIA. However, the last hope of the Filipinos decided to go on an 8-round win streak in order to win the game 13-9.
All of the winners of the first day of the VCT 2022 APAC Stage 2 Knockouts will proceed to the upper bracket semifinals whilst all the losers drop to the lower bracket.
