The Valorant squad of Team Secret absorbed a 2-0 loss at the hands of Korean team DRX in the recently concluded Daejon Valorant Invitational over the weekend.
Team Secret, composed of Jessie "JessieVash" Cuyco, Jayvee "DubsteP" Paguirigan, Jim "BORKUM" Timbreza, Jeremy "Jremy" Cabrera, and Singaporean standin player Lionel "lenne" Lim, who previously played for Bleed eSports, bested CNJ Esports of South Korea earlier in the semifinal before taking on the challenge posed by DRC in the grand final.
FAV gaming of Japan then eked out a 2-0 victory against CNJ in the battle for third place.
Team Secret had a hard time against DRX early in the first map and yielded 13-6 in Haven despite the combined efforts of JessieVash and Jremy on their Breach and Chamber picks.
DRX showed a balanced offense and defense as all of its members reach double-digit led by Yu "BuZz" Byung-chul on his Killjoy with 22 kills and five assists.
Team Secret showed resistance in the first half as both squads reached a 6-6 deadlock but it was total annihilation in the next half as DRX won seven straight rounds for the map win.
The Filipinos then had a change of pace in Ascent but still absorbed a 13-9 beating as Jung "Foxy9" Jae-sung this time showed who's boss in using Jett with 28 kills to lead the Koreans.
Tied at 9-9, DRX once again dismantled Team Secret in the endgame as it never dropped a single round in the next four encounters to secure the series victory.
Foxy9 and BuzZ tallied a total of 43 and 40 kills and 12 and 14 assists, respectively, for DRX.
Jremy, on the other hand, paced Team Secret with 33 kills and five assists on his Chamber and Raze.
Meanwhile, lenne had to become standin for Team Secret as Kevin "dispenser" Te and Riley "witz" Go sought other opportunities outside of the team heading into the franchise league in the next Valorant Champions Tour.
"That was a good experience for the team with Jeremy going to Franchise league next year. We will surely comeback stronger!" wrote JessieVash, one of Team Secret's veterans, on his Facebook page.
Jremy's served as Team Secret's sixth man and made significant substitutions for either dispenser and witz in its recent VCT campaign.