Xipto Esports wins VALORANT Game Changers SEA Stage 1

The Queens of SEA keep their throne in dominant fashion as Xipto Esports defeated BOBA, 3-0, in the Grand Finals of the Valorant Game Changers SEA Stage 1 held April 5th. 

In what Clinton “Paperthin” Bader and Kaavya “Zahk” Karthikeyan described as a “new queens versus old queens” battle, the core of SEA’s representatives to VCT Game Changers: Sao Paulo defeated a team led by its former Captain and IGL by clean sweeping the best-of-5 Grand Finals match, with Xipto earning a 2 map-ban advantage against BOBA.

The first round saw Xipto Esports – composed of majority of the her-story making ex-Team SMG roster of Alexandria “Alexy” Francisco, Odella “enerii” Abraham, Kelly “shirazi” Jaudian, Camille “Kamiyu” Enriquez, and Ryona “Tara” Tan win in a dominant fashion, 13-1, on Bind against BOBA, led by ex-SMG captain and IGL Abigail “Kohaibi” Kong and composed of Nurul “Ayumiii” Aini, Tiara “Alluka” Pleno, Neha “CaspeR” Sottany, and Pornlapat “babytz” Wittayanan. Xipto won all but one of their rounds in the first half before sealing the deal in the first two rounds of the switch.

Come game 2 in Sunset, Xipto was able to successfully pull off a double Operator sniper setup, with no less than enerii pulling off a trick out of Paper Rex’s playbook, and shirazi complementing her and coming into her own as a sniper.

“To be honest, we don’t really practice double-Op-ing, its just like, someone wants to Op, just give them the Op. Everyone on the team is comfortable with Op-ing, so whoever wants to Op, just go for it,” Enerii told Zahk and Paperthin in the winner’s post-match interview.

“It’s not a strat. It’s just like, on the go. But for me, I really like PRX Something right, so I’m playing Gekko, so I took a bit of inspiration from how he plays,” Enerii added.

By game 3, the dominance further continued as Xipto sealed the deal – and the championship – by winning on Icebox, 13-4.

Xipto Esports, BOBA and the 3rd and 4th placing teams – Aura Differential and RIMA GC – have all secured berths for Stage 2 of the SEA Game Changers championship, with the remaining teams to be determined through open qualifiers.

Stage 2 is set for July 2024, and the top 3 teams from that tournament will advance into Game Changers Pacific.