ADVERTISEMENT

Manila Bulletin

Sports

Underdog team Hashira slays giant Bren Esports to rule VCT Stage 2 PH Challengers opener

Sports

Underdog team Hashira slays giant Bren Esports to rule VCT Stage 2 PH Challengers opener

By Jeremiah Sevilla

Photo from Hashira Facebook page

Hashira completed a Cinderella run as it stunned heavy favorite Bren Esports, 3-2, in the grand finals to conquer the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Stage 2 Philippine Challengers 1 on Tuesday night, April 6.

Composed of Splash "Hatred" Macarambon, Francis "Rabbet" Bunag, Jeremy "Jremy" Cabrera, Jiggs "Invy" Reyes, Aron "2766" Orlanda and Mark "Aimix" Dela Cruz, Hashira took a 2-1 lead in the title series before stifling Bren's comeback bid to rule the opening tourney of the VCT Stage 2 in the country hosted by the Philippine Pro Gaming League (PPGL).

Hashira, playing under coaches Louiegi Alain "Silver" Abellanosa and Gian Franco "Ilustrado" Bernardino, and owner-team manager Jim Boy Tuano, bounced back after losing 13-9 in the opening map Haven, taking Ascent and Bind with identical 13-9 scorelines.

Bren, one of the Filipino representatives to the Stage 1 Southeast Asia Masters, forced a deciding map with a narrow 13-11 victory in Icebox.

But Hatred and the crew managed to pull the upset axe against their favored foes with a thrilling 13-10 win in Split.

Hashira bagged the winner's prize of P60,000 and a spot in the PH Challengers 2 wherein a ticket to the Southeast Asia Challengers Finals is at stake.

Hashira started its campaign with a 2-1 win over Galaxy Racer then swept 6045 Pirates, 2-0, in the semifinals.

Bren, featuring Jessie "JessieVash" Cuyco, Jayvee "DubsteP" Paguirigan, Jim "BORKUM" Timbreza, Kevin "Dispenser" Te and Marvin "whoME" Roque, got P45,000 as well as a seat in the second Challengers slated on April 16-18.

JessieVash and the gang beat both Sierra Esports Atlas and SV Empire, 2-1, to advance to the finals.

SV Empire and 6045 Pirates finished at 3rd-4th place for P15,000 and a spot in the Challengers 2.

Related Tags

bren esports Valorant Valorant Champions Tour Hashira

ADVERTISEMENT

.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }

{{ item.section_name }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ item.subtitle }}

Read More

function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });

Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.