Thailand's Xerxia foresees stronger Philippine teams in the future

Filipino fans could never forget how Xerxia broke the hearts of the Philippines when they avenged their upper bracket loss to Team Secret and scored a 2-1 escape during their lower bracket finals rematch at the Valorant Champions Tour 2022: APAC Stage 2 Challengers.

"We were really happy because that game qualified us for the rest of the international events this year. It felt really good to be participating in Riot's event even though we were in such a tough position," Team Xerxia told GMA News Online in an exclusive interview.

"We knew we had a tough road in front of us because of the situation we were in. We had to move to three different places during the tournament. We just had to do the best we could at that moment."

The team was referring to their early tournament hiccup when they suffered a tough 2-1 loss at the hands of Philippines' Team Secret that sent them deep into the lower bracket.

Xerxia labored their way through two 2-1 thrillers before sweeping Onic Esports and arranged their revenge match across Team Secret in the lower bracket finals, which they won.

One of the memorable things that they carried with them from that match was a solid performance from former DOTA 2 player Jessie "JessieVash" Cristy Cuyco, whose exploits made life hard for Xerxia during the series.

Seeing this performance from the Filipino team, Xerxia believes the only trajectory of the esport in the country is upward.

"I think there will definitely be stronger Philippine teams (in the future). I see a lot of talent in that region and with more competitions within the country, it will build stronger teams," a member of the coaching staff said.

It took a while before Xerxia finally had their break after their successful campaign in the APAC Stage 2 Challengers. Before ruling the Valorant tournaments in Thailand this year, the team had to sacrifice a lot to meet the standards they set for themselves.

"Cutting off personal time was one of the biggest challenges the team faced. We used to play the game in a casual way, but becoming professional about it cost us a lot of our free time. We worked six to seven days a week without a break for approximately 2 years in a row," the team shared.

Members of the team actually moved to Valorant from different games. At first it was just trying out the new game but they quickly found their place and kept going with sheer passion.

The team has this one advice to all competitive Valorant players in the region:

"Play every game like it's your last one. The results don't matter, but the experience does."

—MGP, GMA News