By REYNALD MAGALLON
Team Secret fell short in its bid to claim the Wild Rift SEA Championship 2021 title as the Filipinos bowed to Vietnam’s SBTC Esports, 4-1, in the Grand Finals on Sunday, October 3.
Team Secret PH settled for runner-up after the Vietnamese side bucked a slow start to stop the Filipino squad in five games. After surrendering an early lead in the series opener which allowed TS to draw first blood, SBTC came out blazing and swept the next four games to also bag the $30,000 champion's prize
Team Secret scored the first point of the series via a 13-14 come-from-behind win in Game 1. After trailing for most part of the opener, TS prevailed in a clash in the midlane which took down two heroes from SBTC.
The Filipinos then secured the Baron in the next play following a quadrakill from Caster "Chewy" Dela Cruz on his Vayne to seal the victory in 25 minutes. Chewy exploded for a 10-1-2 KDA to lead Team Secret.
SBTC answered back in a dominant fashion in Game 2 as it scored a swift 14-1 victory. The Vietnamese side outplayed the Filipinos in all fronts led by Nguyễn “TF” Hữu Thuần’s Lee Sin and Hồ Trung “Akeno” Hậu’s Thresh who finished with 5-0-4 and 1-0-12 KDAs, respectively.
It was all the momentum SBTC needed to fully turn things around to their favor.
The Vietnamese champions pulled off a close 13-13 victory in Game 3. It was the Filipinos who were in the driver's seat with an 11-7 advantage at the 15-minute mark but a crucial clash in TS’ jungle near the top lane allowed SBTC to score a team ace and take a 2-1 series lead.
Tống Thái “Kiral” Dân on his Ezreal led SBTC to that Game 3 win with a 4-2-8 KDA while TF on his Nunu & Willump added 2-1-9 KDA.
SBTC then made sure to shut the door as it thumped Team Secret in a 12-8 showing in Game 4 before following it up with another lopsided 7-3 victory in Game 5 to close out the series
TF was the steady presence for SBTC after putting up a series-long brilliance with a 6-0-3 and 3-0-1 score line on his Senna in Games 4 and 5.
All is not lost, however.. for Team Secret as it still qualified to Wild Rift’s first ever Horizon Cup. The Philippine team also bagged the $20,000 prize for the runner-up.