By Paolo Trinidad
NAOS Esports and South Built Esports will face off in the grand finals of the VALORANT Champions Tour 2022: Philippines Stage 1 Challengers after taking down their respective foes on Saturday night.
The former punched the first ticket in the finale after a 2-1 win over Action PH in the upper bracket finals.
NAOS put up a slight edge at the half, 7-5, in the winner-take-all Game Three at Haven. That also was the closest Action PH got as NAOS Esports went on a 7-1 run to close out the series and enter the finals.
George “Georggyyy” Lachica came through with 17 kills in the decider for NAOS Esports.
NAOS led by as much as 10 points in Game One, 11-1, before Action PH trimmed the deficit to five through a 7-2 rally. NAOS eventually sealed the deal, 13-8, with Franz “kvzx” Dingal’s Sova pouring 24 kills and eight assists.
A total team effort in Game Two (Bind) allowed Action PH to bag a tight 13-11 win to send the series to a Game Three.
On the other hand, South Built Esports, who was coming off a 2-0 win against Oasis Gaming in the second round of the losers’ bracket earlier in the day, took out Action PH in the lower bracket finals, 2-1, to claim the second finals ticket.
Action PH was on the verge of closing out the series with a comfortable 10-5 advantage at Round 15 in Game Three. South Built Esports, though, came alive in time to kick-start a game-changing 8-1 rally to clinch the closer at Haven.
Azis “azys” Nandang (Jett) and Frederico “PapiChulo” Evangelista (Killjoy) dropped a combined total of 45 kills in Game Three to lead the defending Mineski VxV champions.
South Built Esports grabbed Map One at Ascent, 13-10, before bowing down at Split in Game Two through an 8-13 loss to Action PH.
Action PH, who ended the tourney in third place, has qualified for the APAC Challengers along with grand finalists South Built Esports and NAOS Gaming.
The NAOS Gaming-South Built Esports grand finals match will be tomorrow, Sunday at 10:00 AM.
