By: Paolo R. Trinidad
NAOS Esports has waved goodbye from the tournament after a 1-2 reverse sweep against ONIC G in the Group C elimination match of the VALORANT Champions Tour Asia-Pacific Stage 1: Challengers Playoffs on Friday night.
The Philippines Challengers’ first runner-up just couldn’t get things through in the do-or-die Game Three at Breeze.
The match started in a competitive back-and-forth affair with both teams tied at three. Round Seven is when NAOS started to collapse after failing to defend sites multiple times. But still, they were at a striking distance, trailing 4-8 at the half.
Unfortunately, the Indonesians’ lead grew as NAOS continued to stumble in the second half and eventually dropped Map Three in a 13-5 defeat.
Chaya “Monyet” Nugraha’s Jett paved the way for the ONIC G with 25 kills in the decider. On the other side, the Filipinos struggled with Franz Kevin “kvzx” Dingal (Sova) and Emmanuel Jonathan “jEEE” Buenavidez (Viper) both finishing with just 12 kills. They are the only two who finished with a double-digit kill mark for NAOS.
NAOS caught ONIC G off guard in a come-from-behind win in Game One at Bind. With the lead as big as five early in the second half, NAOS finally found their footing to seal the victory in their own map pick with a 9-3 run to complete the comeback 13-11 win.
The Indonesians evened the series and took Game Two at Icebox through a dominating fashion, 13-5. Monyet finished with 27 kills and a high 403 Average Combat Score.
With this defeat, NAOS Esports has become the second Filipino team to be eliminated from the Asia-Pacific tournament.
