Filipino-powered Xipto Esports ends Valorant Gamechangers at 4th

MANILA, Philippines — Valorant Pacific Queens Xipto Esports finished at fourth place in the recent world championship of Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Game Changers held offline in Berlin, Germany.

The team — which features Filipino players Kelly "shirazi" Jaudian, Alexandria "Alexy" Francisco and Camille "Kamiyu" Enriquez, along with teammates Odella “enerii” Abraham and Ryona "Tara" Tan — arrived at the world stage riding on a 54-consecutive series win streak, not losing a match-up since the start of the season and only conceding a handful of maps on its way to the world stage.

In its first match against North America's Flyquest Red, the squad saw its streak almost broken after the Flyquest took a four-round lead during the second half of the deciding map. But Xipto responded with a five-round streak of its own. The map then headed to overtime but eventually ended up with the Southeast Asian squad extending its win streak to 55.

However, up against was a tough challenge as Xipto Esports faced defending champions, Shopify Rebellion, who handed the former’s first loss of the season after a tough 0-2 defeat, which relegated it to the lower bracket.

Xipto Esports managed to take down Latin America squad KRÜ Blaze with a reverse sweep to stay alive in the lower brackets. But it fell to Brazil's MIBR in the lower bracket semifinals, 1-2, ending its world championship run outside the podium.

The finish is similar to Xipto Esports’s run last year under the banner of Team SMG, which also lost to a Brazilian squad (Team Liquid Brazil).