European squad Acend had won the first-ever Valorant Champions crown following a dramatic come-from-behind win over Gambit Esports, 3-2 in the Grand Finals in Berlin, Germany on Monday, Dec 13.
The Grand Finals, which featured the only two squads that have beaten all-Filipino crew, Team Secret during the course of the tournament, went the distance as Acend recovered from the 1-2 deficit in the best-of-five match.
Against the heavy favorites, Acend rose from the grave as it took the final two maps in Icebox and Split to take the crown and the $350, 000 top prize.
The European crew prevailed in overtime in Icebox, 14-12, to force the winner-take-all Map 5. Acend rode the momentum of the tight Map 4 win to close out the series with a masterful 13-8 victory in Split.
All is not lost for Gambit, however, as the crew from the CIS region still took home $150,000 with them while third and fourth placers, Team Liquid and Kru Esports had $90,000 each.
It was actually Acend who eliminated the Filipinos from contention after dealing Team Secret a 2-0 sweep to advance to the semifinals. Acend then beat Team Liquid in the semis, 2-0, to reach the Grand Finals.
Gambit, meanwhile faced Team Secret during its tournament debut. It was the match where Team Secret shocked the whole tournament as it stunned the heavy favorites with a win in Icebox. Gambit went on to still take the victory via a reverse sweep highlighted by 13-0 beatdown of the Filipinos in Breeze.
The loss, however, proved to be what the Filipinos needed as it cruised past it next opponents to finish second, behind Gambit in Group A and set up the clash against Acend in the quarterfinals.