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Here They Come: Galaxy Racer Valorant India Invitational Day One Recap
The Galaxy Racer Valorant India Invitational has begun, with the first day providing copious entertainment in the matchups. The Group Stage has nearly concluded, with Group A having entirely run its course and Group B half complete. The tournament will conclude on the 20th of Nov, meaning with the conclusion of the Group Stage, the real tournament can begin.
Format
Organized by Galaxy Racer, a total of eight teams; seven from Pacific and one representative from EMEA, compete for a prize pool of 100,000 USD. The tournament is separated into two events, the Group Stage and Playoffs. The former is organized into two groups, while the latter includes the top four teams from the event.
The Group Stage is played in Round Robin fashion, with the top two teams from each group advancing to Playoffs. All matches are played in Bo1 format for this stage. In the Playoffs, it becomes a single-elimination bracket. All matches are now Bo3s, excluding the finals, which will be a Bo5.
Group A
Team Heretics and Team Secret have emerged as the frontrunners of the group, unsurprisingly. Team Heretics entered the India Invitational as one of the favorites to win the event. Despite their top pedigree however, their position at the top of the group would not be as secure as imagined.
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In another stroke, Team Secret emerged as the surprising yet not unsurprising second seed from the group. Considering the other two were Rex Regum Qeon (RRQ), an untested Indonesian/Filipino squad freshly formed for VCT 2023, and Enigma Gaming, a challenger team hailing from India, the path forward was fairly clear.
Team Heretics began their India Invitational journey, taking down both RRQ and Enigma in dominant 13-4 fashion. Team Secret, meanwhile, were off to a rough start with a loss to RRQ to begin their journey. A strike back against Enigma ended with Secret edging out a win.
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A surprise thrashing against Heretics at the end of the day changed the tune however, as Team Secret took Team Heretics to the bank on Haven. Jeremy “Jremy” Cabrera demonstrated a masterclass on the Raze to end their Group run, aided by the experienced veterans of Jessie “JessieVash” Cristy Cuyco and Jayvee “DubsteP” Paguirigan.
Group B
The second group has yet to complete, with only Paper Rex having competed twice. The first match between Paper Rex and Global Esports was an exciting affair, despite the scoreline, with players Abhirup “Lightningfast” Choudhury and Jayanth “skillZ” Ramesh especially shining.
Paper Rex then faced off against old nemeses in Bleed Esports. Their Singaporean counterparts have challenged their SEA rule at every turn in 2022, and here they looked no different. The addition of Natchaphon “sScary” Matarat seems only to have elevated their team.
Bleed would take down Paper Rex in dominant fashion on Bind, one of Paper Rex’s best maps. Star fraggers Tyler “juicy” James and Derrick “Deryeon” Yee led Paper Rex by the nose as they dictated the pace the entire game, a feeling alien to the championship contending squad.
Image credit: Galaxy Racer