MANILA, Philippines – NAOS Esports, the lone Filipino representative in the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Pacific: Ascensions, exited the tournament after losing to South Korean team Riddle Order, 1-2, in the second round of the lower bracket held offline in Jakarta, Indonesia.
NAOS Esports had been seeded in the upper bracket quarterfinals where it began its Ascensions campaign against Indonesia's Boom Esports. The Filipino squad suffered a 0-2 defeat, which relegated it to the lower brackets.
With its back against the wall, NAOS Esports was able to find its form, eliminating Hong Kong's Oblivion Force after a 2-0 sweep to stay alive in the lower brackets, where it was to face Riddle Order.
In NAOS Esports' map pick Haven, both teams traded round wins but NAOS Esports put up a three-consecutive-round win to give them the lead at 12-9. But Riddle Order answered back with its own streak to force overtime.
Both teams once again traded wins, but it was the Filipinos who overcame the three overtimes to finally close out their map pick with a win, 17-15.
However, it went downhill for the Filipinos from that point as in the second map Lotus, Riddle Order took a commanding 10-0 lead, forcing a decider in Ascent.
Though NAOS led the map at the half with 7-5, Riddle Order was able to take four consecutive rounds to take the lead. NAOS bagged a few rounds of its own, but Riddle Order closed out the series with a three-consecutive-round win to eliminate the Filipinos from the competition at seventh-eighth place.