Team Secret and Global Esports during the 2025 VCT Pacific Kickoff. Handout/VCT Pacific

MANILA -- It is "good game, well played" for Filipino-represented teams as Team Secret and Global Esports fall in their lower bracket matches of the 2025 VCT Pacific Kickoff tournament, knocking them out of contention for the upcoming Valorant Masters: Bangkok.

All-Filipino squad Team Secret lost to Rex Regum Qeon (RRQ) in a reverse sweep, 2-1, while Global Esports lost to DetonatioN FocusMe at overtime in two maps.

The Adobo Gang has gone winless in the Kickoff, after losing to RRQ and GE. The India-based org meanwhile marked their only win to the former and then eventually lost to Talon Esports and DFM over the weekend.

Team Secret during the VCT Pacific Kickoff match against RRQ in South Korea on January 28, 2025. Handout/VCT PacificTeam Secret vs RRQ

In Secret's map pick Lotus, they were in control for most of the game by taking 8 rounds over RRQ's 4 by the first half.

Come second half, the Indonesian squad managed to secure the pistol, anti-eco rounds and 3 more round wins to stay in the game, but TS shut down the comeback by the 21st round behind plays like in-game leader Jessie "JessieVash" Cuyco's 4k hold in A site to take the first map at 13-9.

Adrian Jiggs "invy" Reyes was the MVP for TS in Lotus with 22 kills, 15 deaths, 9 assists, and a 291 average combat score.

RRQ took revenge in Pearl by dismantling TS at 11 to 1 in the first half. TS managed to take the pistol, anti-eco, and an additional round in the second half before RRQ wrapped up their map pick at 4-13.

The drubbing continued in the deciding map, Haven, historically a dominant map for TS, as RRQ limited the Pinoy squad to only 4 rounds in the first half and kept them winless in the second half, completing the reverse sweep at 4-13.

Global Esports' Kelly "KellyS" Sedillo during the VCT Pacific Kickoff match against DetonatioN FocusMe in South Korea on January 28, 2025. Handout/VCT Pacific 

Global Esports vs DetonatioN FocusMe

In Abyss, DFM was dominant in the first half, limiting GE to only 2 rounds and ended the half at 2-10.

GE started to mount a comeback by taking the pistol and anti-eco rounds and then winning four straight rounds.  But it was too late as DFM closed out the map at 8-13.

Split was a tight match for the two teams as they ended the first half at 6-6 and continued to trade rounds in the second half to reach overtime. In between, GE's Filipino IGL Kelly "KellyS" Sedillo logs his first ace in the season.

DFM eventually broke the deadlock by winning the two needed rounds in overtime to put away GE out of the running.

With the losses, Team Secret and Global Esports will miss out on the first VALORANT Masters tournament for the year in Bangkok, Thailand and will have to regroup and begin their preparations for Stage 1 by the latter half of March.