All-Filipino squad Team Secret gave Masters: Berlin champs Gambit Esports a scare but fell short in their Valorant Champions 2021 opening clash, Thursday night in the German capital 2-1.

• Valorant: Team Secret to face Gambit in Champions opener

Sniffing out Ayaz "nAts" Akhmetshin early into rounds of the Icebox map, Team Secret shocked the Russian squad — and the Valorant community — with a 13-6 win in the first salvo.

LOOK: Team Secret and #VALORANTChampions are trending on Twitter as the Pinoy squad takes on Gambit, with the match down the wire. @ABSCBNNews @ABSCBNNewsSport pic.twitter.com/BNNujmWgd6

— Angela Coloma (@mac_coloma) December 2, 2021

Come the side switch, Team Secret lead 8-4, with Gambit slowly picking steam. But Team Secret were able to shut them down just in time to draw first blood, with Dubstep getting the MVP honors for the Pinoy squad.

It was a rather lopsided game in favor of Gambit in Game 2, going ham with a clean game in the Breeze map, 13-0, to force a rubber match. Bogdan "Sheydos" Naumov took the MVP honors in Game 2.

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Team Secret started the pistol round at the Bind map with a flawless victory, putting up a good fight against Gambit in a first half capped off by a clutch play that saw Gambit's Igor "Redgar" Vlasov take down two of the Pinoy squad's players.

The second half of the Bind map round saw Team Secret losing steam, with Gambit taking four of the remaining five sets in the half to call it a game and secure the series.

Team Secret will face Japan's Crazy Raccoon on December 5, Sunday at 10 P.M. (Philippine time).

ROSTER:

• Jessie Cristy "JessieVash" Cuyco
• Jayvee "Dubstep" Paguirigan
• Jim "BORKUM" Timbreza
• Kevin "Dispenser" Te
• Riley "witz" Go