Team Secret Topples Paper Rex in SEA El Clásico at VCT Pacific League
Team Secret toppled Paper Rex 2-1 in their best-of-three series during the second week of action at the VALORANT Champions Tour 2023: Pacific League.
FINALLLYYYYY, WE MADE IT! 🏴🏳️
GG WP @pprxteam 🤝#LabanSecret #ItLiesWithin pic.twitter.com/TpxUZ5VAG1
— Team Secret (@teamsecret) April 2, 2023
In what was considered a Southeast Asian el clásico, Team Secret and Paper Rex finally battled each other again after the Filipino squad failed to keep up with the Singaporean team in the 2022 season. Prior to their win, Team Secret had lost to Paper Rex twice last year, getting swept 2-0 at VCT Asia-Pacific Stage 2: Challengers Upper Bracket Finals and losing 2-1 at the semifinal of Valorant India Invitational by Galaxy Racer.
Fortunately, Team Secret came out on top in their latest matchup that had three close games, with both teams finishing with double-digit round wins.
“I did not expect it to go to [Game 3],” said Jayvee “DubsteP Paguirigan in the post-match interview. “I’m glad we pulled through.”
During the series, the three veterans of Team Secret showcased their deep bag of agents as they flexed into different agents and roles in each map. DubsteP himself used two Sentinels in Killjoy (Haven) and Cypher (Fracture) and managed to secure his signature agent, Jett, for the third map at Split. Meanwhile, Jim “BORKUM” Timbreza cycled through Omen, Brimstone, and Astra while Jessie “JessieVash” Cuyco swapped between Sova, Fade, and Cypher for each map, respectively.
Team Secret dominated right from the start of each map, winning five out of the six pistol rounds in the series. However, all three games were uncomfortably close. The team lost Game 1 on Haven in a close 13-11 scoreline but were successful in reverse-sweeping them in the next two maps.
In Game 1, Team Secret opened the series 5-1 before getting smacked with a five-round win streak from Paper Rex. After the roles got swapped in halftime, the same thing happened again, Team Secret went 5-1 and Paper Rex responded with a five-round win streak that gave them the matchpoint. Team Secret extended the game with a wipeout win in Round 23 but eventually lost to Paper Rex in the next round after.
Following the loss at Haven, the second game on Fracture saw an undeterred Filipino squad. They went off right from the start and secured a five-round win streak that forced Paper Rex to call a timeout. After that, Team Secret then lost three succeeding rounds before regaining their groove to end the first half 8-4. In their only pistol-round loss, the round was stolen away from Team Secret as Paper Rex stuck to defuse whilst the team was stuck in B-site’s tower. Fortunately, the back-and-forth second half ended with a stamp of victory for Team Secret, this time getting the 13-11 win for themselves.
TONDO GAMING IS BAAAAACK @Secret_JcVash 🔪#LabanSecret #ItLiesWithin pic.twitter.com/A3soQoLc8H
— Team Secret (@teamsecret) April 2, 2023
In the newly-revamped Split’s debut in the Pacific League, the SEA el clásico went to the Filipino squad’s way after a 13-10 win against Paper Rex on the map. The game started with two round wins for Team Secret but Paper Rex managed to tie it 2-2 by the fourth round. After that, JessieVash activated Tondo time again and smacked Khalish “d4v41” Rusyaidee with his Titanmail Mace in the fifth round. Although Team Secret trailed by two rounds in the first half, the second half belonged to them as they only let Paper Rex three rounds en route to their eventual map and series win.
Team Secret now boasts a 2-0 record in the Pacific League and is set to face Gen.G next for their next matchup on April 10, 2023.
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