Despite being sent down to the lower bracket final, Bren Esports managed to crawl their way back and made history as the first Filipino team to secure a spot in the Valorant Masters in Berlin all while taking home $25,000 (more than P1.2 million) in the process.

The squad of Jessie “JessieVash” Cristy Cuyco, Jayvee “DubsteP” Paguirigan, Jim “BORKUM” Timbreza, Kevin “Dispenser” Te, and Riley “witz” Go pulled off a dominant win over Paper Rex, who eliminated them in Stage 2 playoffs, that sent them to the lower bracket the night before. 

“I’m just so happy that we finally… like the hard work paid off because I’ve been trying to chase this for my entire career so I’m so happy that we made it. I didn’t stop, I’m 28 years old and I’m still trying my best to do this thing for kids,” expressed DubsteP who is holding back his tears.

Despite the sweep, Paguirigan said it was a close fight between both squads.

“We can focus on other things, we can look at the bigger picture right now. The win against Paper Rex was really close. There [were] two crazy overtimes, and I think they are really a good team. We just had the upper hand on the round. I think that’s all if you ask me,” he said.

Coming back with vengeance after being delegated to the lower bracket, Bren won hard-earned overtimes in their map pick Bind and Paper Rex’s Split, 2-0 to open the finals series.

Going into Ice Box, Bren did not stutter as they took the first four rounds but Paper Rex fought back winning the fifth and sixth rounds. 

Bren stopped the bleeding by taking the seventh round before closing out the half, 9-3. 

Come the second half, Paper Rex seemed to find their groove, taking the first three rounds, but a clutch from JessieVash and Dispenser in Site A prevented Bren from a total collapse. 

After that, Bren proved too much to handle as they took rounds 17 to 19, capped off by Jim “BORKUM” Timbreza’s headshot on a Paper Rex player to seal the win and hailed as ‘Kings of Southeast Asian Valorant’. 

Prior to the finals, Bernard Chong-owned squad booked their ticket to Berlin, the last team to qualify in the Masters Berlin and complete the 16-team field, after sweeping Indonesian squad Alter Ego in the lower bracket finals, 2-0. 

In Berlin, Bren Esports will compete against world champion Sentinels, along with powerhouses Gambit Esports, 100 Thieves, and Ascend, along with SuperMassive Blaze, G2 Esports, Team Envy, KRU Esports, Havan Liberty, Keyd Stars, Vision Strikers, F4Q, ZETA Division, Crazy Raccoon, and Paper Rex.

The Masters Berlin is slated on September 10 up until the 19th at the Verti Music Hall in Berlin, Germany, with the prize pool yet to be disclosed.