VCT Pacific Stage 1: Team Secret gets boot; Filipinos in do-or-die for playoff berth

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April 15, 2025 | 8:57am

MANILA, Philippines — All-Filipino Valorant squad Team Secret suffered early elimination in the second in the last week of the group stages of the 2025 Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Pacific Stage 1 after getting swept 0-2 by Nongshim RedForce of South Korea.

This will be the first time since VCT Pacific began back in 2023 that the Adobo Gang will not be advancing from the group stages. The team has been consistently finishing within the top six of the tournament for the past three years.

Other Filipino players seeded in Group Alpha are also on the brink of elimination. Global Esports, with Filipinos Federico "Papi" Evangelista, Kelly "kellyS" Sedillo and Mark "patrickWHO" Musni, also suffered a 0-2 sweep against South Korea favorite, Gen,G Esports.

Filipino player Patrick “PatMen” Mendoza and Paper Rex were finally able to secure their first series win in the tournament at the expense of Japan's DetonatioN FocusMe, which saw the Japanese squad's elimination from the tournament. Meanwhile, Paper Rex's playoff chances are still alive as the team moves up the rankings with a 1-3 standing.

However, it would mean that a team with a Filipino player is going to see elimination next week as Paper Rex and Global Esports will open the final week of Stage 1's group stages in a do-or-die match for the final playoffs spot in their group on Saturday, April 19 at 4 p.m. (Manila time). For its part, Team Secret will hope to close out their season with a win against RRQ on Monday, April 21, at 6 p.m. (Manila time).