Southeast Asia crowns all its First Strike champions

The most prominent VALORANT regions no doubt are Europe and North America. However, Southeast Asia is definitely one to keep your eye on, and the five crowned VALORANT First Strike champions of their respective regions showed why they are better than their competition. We got to witness dedicated First Strike tournaments for the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore with Malaysia, and Taiwan with Hong Kong, as per Riot Games’ plans for the region.

Philippines

After winning all their Mineski VxV group stage games and coming out of Group B with a +21 round differential, Bren Esports demolished anyone and everyone that stood in their way. They managed to win all three of their games against Subversive, Affinity Esports, and ANBU Elite Gaming.

Bren Esports met up against AG.Nefarious in the quarter finals, winning both Haven and Ascent with a 13-6 scoreline. They progressed into the semifnal to take on Hashira, who they dismantled in another 2-0 victory. The final match saw TMT Esports versus Bren, with the latter taking home the trophy after a quick 3-0 win.

Jim "BORKUM" Timbreza was one of Bren Esports’ bright spots, averaging 295 ACS throughout the tournament, with 1.85 KDA, 20 first bloods, and 6 clutch moments.

Thailand

FULL SENSE were crowned champions of the First Strike ESL Thailand Championship 2020 after coming back from the lower bracket to win it all. MiTH.Attitude lost their first match 2-0 in the upper bracket quarter final stage to NG.Black. They were given another chance at redemption through the lower bracket, where they managed to win all their matches in the first three rounds with convincing 2-0 scores over their competition.

A rematch against NG.Black in the lower bracket final was everything they needed for revenge. This time around MiTH.Attitude came out victorious after it went to all three maps, with Patiphan "patt" Chaiwong putting on a wonderful display of skill. He averaged 266 ACS throughout the series, with a 27% headshot percentage, 5 triple kills, and even scored an ace in the second Bind match.

The team carried their momentum into the Grand Final to dismantle Overtime Esports with a quick 3-0 scoreline, and win the tournament. Bind and Haven both ended in 13-7 in favor of MiTH.Attitude, while Ascent finished even earlier with 13-4. Although he wasn’t the MVP of the tournament, Patiphan was the second best player, averaging 263 ACS, 1.42 K/D, a 26% headshot percentage, and clutching 5 rounds by himself throughout the First Strike ESL Thailand Championship 2020.

Indonesia

The Indonesian scene is definitely one to keep an eye on, with it being the only tournament promising its winner a guaranteed ticket to the yet-to-be-revealed Indonesian Major Tournament in 2021. NXL Ligagame were the ones to snatch this opportunity after defeating the competition along the way to lift the trophy.

NXL Ligagame overcame AING MAUNG Esports in the round of 16 to take on Konoha in the quarter finals, both of which ended in 2-0 to see NXL Ligagame progress to the semifinals. Saibani "fl1pzjder" Rahmad stood out in both matches, with an impressive 36% headshot percentage, 5 triple kills, and a 1.26 K/D in the quarter final series.

The semifinal clash against BOOM Esports saw NXL Ligagame take the first map 13-7 before the second map, Bind, went to overtime to end 14-12 following heroics in both the final rounds from Oliver Budi "m0rea" Wangge, scoring a quadra and a double kill in each of the last two rounds respectively.

Alter Ego went toe-to-toe with NXL Ligagame in the Grand FInal, reaching all five maps. Alter Ego managed to crawl back from a 0-2 deficit to make it even at 2-2 going into Split. NXL Ligagame only managed to edge their opponents 13-11 after Rey Sebastian "vascaLizz" Pardede performed exceptionally well on the map, ending it with 234 ACS and 157 ADR.

Malaysia and Singapore

TODAK won the First Strike Malaysia and Singpore Regional Final after several strong performances and a run through the lower bracket. TODAK defeated Excelsa in the upper bracket quarter final before falling to Team SMG to send them down to the second round of the lower bracket. From there, TODAK won their match against Running Dogs then received a Bye straight into the lower bracket final.

They managed to win 2-1 after going all three maps in their match against Reality Rift, with an impressive team performance that saw Idzni "SENNA" Rosdi, Shamir "subbey" Zaman, and Arsyad "aduka" Sazali all get more than 50 kills cumulatively across the three maps. The Grand Final was set, and it pitted them against Team SMG, the same squad who sent them to the lower bracket.

TODAK managed to flip the tables this time around in a neck-and-neck affair with Team SMG, each of them taking a map off the other till they reached all five. Finally, TODAK came out the winner and was crowned the champion of the First Strike Malaysia and Singpore Regional Final following a hard-fought 3-2 victory. Once again, SENNA shined throughout the series, averaging 242 ACS, winning 4 1v1 and 3 1v2 situations, and getting a quadra kill to help his team lift the trophy.

Taiwan and Hong Kong

Following their qualification, ahq e-Sports Club started their quest to become the First Strike Hong Kong & Taiwan Regional Final champions from the quarter finals stage. They came up against Five Ace e-Sports in their first match, which they managed to win 2-0 and move on to the next one. UnityBelief weren’t capable of stopping ahq e-Sports Club from progressing to the Grand Final as Lin "Milk" Chi-Hung put on a show, finishing the series with 300 ACS.

The Grand Final saw ahq e-Sports Club come up against LJG, with the former taking all three maps to wrap up the series and the entire tournament. Once again, Milk stood out from the rest of his teammates, averaging 285 ACS, getting 61 kills on the board, and finishing the set with a 1.22 K/D