Despite their defeat against NRG Esports on Sunday, September 28, in the playoffs of the VALORANT Champions Paris 2025, Erick “aspas” Santos managed to set a brand-new international record for kills in a best-of-three series, with 80 kills. This milestone is separate from the record he already holds on the Champions Tour overall, where he reached 82 kills in a single match against KRÜ during the Americas Kickoff earlier this year.

One of the biggest surprises of the group stage, MIBR advanced from Group B in second place just behind Fnatic, eliminating both Bilibili Gaming (China’s No. 1 seed) and Rex Regum Qeon in the process. Riding that momentum into the playoffs, the Brazilian squad kept their form alive in the quarterfinals of the winner’s bracket, defeating Team Heretics 14-12 on Corrode before closing things out 13-6 on Haven.

A close match, a sad ending

That run brought MIBR into the winner’s bracket semifinals, where they once again faced NRG Esports, the No. 3 seed from VCT Americas, a familiar rival, with four previous clashes this season resulting in just one victory for the Brazilians. The series opened on Abyss, which turned into the first overtime of the match. NRG narrowly secured the map 16-14, but not without a staggering individual display from aspas. The Brazilian star posted 32 kills against only 15 deaths with nearly 285 ACS, recording 12 multikills in 30 rounds, a show of dominance that kept MIBR within striking distance.

On Haven, the script flipped completely. MIBR steamrolled through NRG, conceding only four rounds and leveling the series 1-1. Once again, aspas was at the heart of it all, this time running riot on Neon. By the end of the map, he stood at 23 kills to just 8 deaths, with an impressive 318 ACS to his name.

The decisive map, Corrode, the most recent addition to the VALORANT map pool, delivered one final showcase from the Brazilian superstar. Aspas even closed out round 28 with a spectacular ace, though it wasn’t enough to stop NRG from clutching the map 16-14 in overtime and sealing the series.

Even in defeat, aspas finished on top yet again with 25 kills on Waylay and led nearly every stat line on the server. The only thing missing from his record-setting performance was the most important prize of all, the victory in the series. MIBR remain in contention at Champions and will face DRX this Monday, September 29, in the lower bracket for a decisive match.