MANILA, Philippines -- It is heartbreak for the Adobo Gang as Team Secret lost to Talon Esports in the VCT Pacific Stage 2 Knockout rounds, 2-0, ending their VCT Pacific run at another fifth- to sixth-place finish and missing out on a third Valorant Champions bid.
In what seemed to be a resurgence by the team with new coach Tim "dummy" Olson and new players James “2GE” Goopio and Brheyanne "Wild0reoo" Reyes, Team Secret saw a 4-0 run, even beating VCT Masters Shanghai champions, Gen.G, to finish the group stages as the third seed.
In the do-or-die knockout match-up, Talon held a small lead at the half of their map pick, Lotus, 5-7, then notched three consecutive rounds to extend it to 5-10. Though Team Secret made a valiant effort to try and force overtime, taking three consecutive rounds, the lead Talon Esports had was enough to take Map 1, 11-13.
Facing elimination, Team Secret's Abyss pick might have been a bad call as Talon Esports was able to take control of the map, taking four consecutive rounds after the half.
Team Secret once again managed to close the gap, but it was a repeat of the previous map with Talon Esports having just enough lead to close out the series. This resulted in the Team Secret suffering its first loss of VCT Pacific Stage 2 and dashing dreams of making it to Valorant Champions.
"There was a lack of cohesion in the post plants, especially in Abyss, that normally never happens. Maybe it's a one-off thing but unfortunately, it happened in an elimination match," said Olson during the postmatch interview.
The loss sees Team Secret exit VCT Pacific at fifth to sixth place for a fourth consecutive time since VCT Pacific was formed last year. The squad will miss the world stage for the third consecutive year.
Though they fell short in their bid for Champions, veteran Team Secret player Jessie "JessieVash" Cuyco sees the potential the current roster has and with more time, it could end up as a top-tier team.
"The changes we did before Stage 2 are working. We just didn't have enough time to prepare. Our current standing was affected by our standing in Stage 1, if we had started with the current line-up, we could have secured the first or second seed," said Cuyco.
Olson agrees, though fans may say that the new roster did not achieve anything.
"It's valid to say we did not achieve anything, but we inherited the record from the previous roster, which is fair as we adjusted in the mid-season. At the end of the day, we lost one match. It's easy to be negative right now because it is a devastating loss and it ends our season. But looking at the bigger picture, we beat Gen.G. We went undefeated in groups and showed a lot of promise," said Olson.