Courtesy: Valorant Esports Philippines
MANILA -- NAOS Esports are the champions of the first split of Valorant Challengers League Philippines this year, after outgunning top-seeded Oasis Gaming, 3-1, Sunday.
After Oasis won in Lotus on overtime (15-13), NAOS went on to take Fracture (13-10), Pearl (13-7), and Ascent (13-8) to claim the crown from the regular season's top team.
Jerome 'Mojer' Literal drew 3k (three kills) as NAOS forced overtime in round 24. In the second round of overtime, Oasis went up 14-13, and sealed the map when Mark "Markyyy" Tuling won a 1v1 Omen gunfight against Deko "PapiChulo" Evangelista .
Despite being forced to equip light armors in round 23 at Fracture, NAOS bagged three early kills that gave them the advantage when they retook A-site and defused the spike,
NAOS took control of Pearl, 13-7 to reach match point. Mojer went for another 3k with Killjoy round 21 of Ascent that gave NAOS the man advantage heading a wipeout, and eventually, the Valorant Philippines Challengers title.
Johnty "JA" Arone became the series MVP after finishing the grand finals with an average combat score of 261.75. He averaged 19 kills and 3 assists, on top of 15 deaths per round.
NAOS won P600,000, the lion's share of a P1.5-million prize pool for the month-long competition.
NAOS underwent a roster revamp ahead of the Valorant Challengers season, after the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) went on a massive revamp that focused more on the international-based teams.
NAOS welcomed Riley "Witz" Go, who came from now-Valorant partnered squad Team Secret, and players from the now-disbanded South Built Esports (SBE) such as JA and PapiChulo, and young players such as Mojer and Noel 'NDG' De Quia.