Filipino Valorant pros suffer early Esports World Cup exit
MANILA, Philippines — Filipino Valorant standouts Adrian Jiggs “invy” Reyes, Patrick “PatMen” Mendoza and Xavier “xavi8k” Juan saw their Esports World Cup 2026 campaigns come to an abrupt end after Paper Rex (PRX) and Global Esports (GE) were eliminated in the group stage in Paris, France.
Reyes and PRX looked poised for a deep run after a strong tournament opener against North America's NRG.
After drawing first blood with a 13-9 win on Fracture, PRX struggled to sustain its momentum as NRG took control of the series with a 5-13 victory on Lotus before closing out Breeze, 10-13, to hand Reyes and company a 1-2 defeat and dropping them to the lower bracket.
Facing elimination, PRX found itself in another tightly contested series against EMEA representative Karmine Corp.
The opening map was close, with Karmine Corp narrowly taking Sunset, 11-13, before PRX responded with a 13-9 win on Fracture to force a decider. But the European side proved too strong on Lotus, securing a 7-13 victory to eliminate PRX from playoff contention.
Meanwhile, fellow Filipinos Mendoza and Juan endured a difficult road with Global Esports.
GE got off to a slow start, suffering a heavy defeat against Brazil's MIBR in its tournament opener. The Pacific representatives were outmatched from the outset, dropping Lotus, 2-13, before falling 3-13 on Haven.
Mendoza, Juan and the rest of the squad regrouped from their opening loss and pushed AG.AL to the limit on Sunset as the Pacific squad forced overtime after battling through a tightly contested map. But AG.AL escaped with a 14-12 victory.
The Chinese side then completed the sweep on Split, 13-10, ending GE's tournament run.
The group stage exits leave the Philippines without a representative in the tournament’s playoffs, with Reyes, Mendoza and Juan all seeing their campaigns conclude before the knockout stage. The three will now shift their focus back to the VCT Pacific circuit, as Stage 2 begins on July 16.
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