Two-time defending champion De La Salle University begins its bid for a historic three-peat with a retooled roster as the 2026 UAAP Esports VALORANT Tournament gets underway on Sunday at MVP Studios in Mandaluyong City.
The Green Aces enter the new season without former Finals MVP Xavier Juan, leaving inaugural Finals MVP Aaron Sablay as the centerpiece of a La Salle squad looking to maintain its grip on the UAAP VALORANT crown.
Sablay is one of four holdovers from last season’s championship team, alongside Lucas Gruenberg, Lance Gacayan, and Gerardo Corpus.
Joining them this season are Thomas Lazatin and Joseph Santos, who will have big shoes to fill as the Green Aces chase a third straight title.
Juan’s departure represents the biggest change for La Salle after he emerged as the team’s go-to player during last season’s title defense, en route to winning the Finals MVP award.
Juan delivered several clutch plays in La Salle’s tightly contested Finals series against Far Eastern University, including a crucial one-on-one win that sparked the Green Aces’ championship-clinching run in Game 2.
With Juan gone, Sablay now returns to the forefront.
The former Finals MVP was one of the key figures in La Salle’s run to the inaugural championship and provides the Green Aces with an experienced anchor as the team integrates its new pieces.
La Salle, however, will have little room to settle in after being drawn into a loaded Group B alongside last season’s runner-up Far Eastern University, bronze medalist University of the Philippines, and National University.
The Tamaraws loom as an immediate threat to La Salle’s three-peat bid after coming within striking distance of dethroning the Green Aces last season.
Over in Group A, Adamson University, University of Santo Tomas, Ateneo de Manila University, and University of the East will battle for spots in the knockout stage.
UST remains the only other school aside from FEU to have reached a UAAP VALORANT final, finishing runner-up to La Salle in the inaugural tournament, while Ateneo has reached the semifinals in each of the past two seasons.
