By: Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
“Comeback is real.”
Fighting hard from the lower bracket to clinch a finals clash with the Indonesian powerhouse team, the PH Sibol ML team took down the giants, 3-2, in the first-ever Southeast Asian Games E-sports tournament.
The resiliency and the versatile draft picking strategies the Sibol squad showed edged them the victory against the well-composed Indonesian team.
The team composed of Kenneth Jiane “Kenji” Villa, Karl Gabriel “KarlTzy” Nepomuceno, Carlito “Ribo” Ribo, Jeniel “Haze” Bata-anon, Angelo Kyle “Pheww” Arcangel, Allan Sancio “Lusty” Castromayor, and Jason Rafael “Jay” Torculas, gave PH its first gold in E-sports.
Notching the first win courtesy of a split-pushing Chou, the decoy strategy unleashed by Sibol worked well.
In the next game, Indonesia equalized the series with a total mismatch in the draft picks, disabling Sibol’s sets with their hero counters.
Indonesia looked to gain the advantage and gain a stranglehold on the series after a comeback win during Game 3, clinching a 2-1 advantage.
Laser-focused and determined to win in front of their home crowd, the Sibol team unleashed off-meta players and pulled off two straight wins, taking down the favorites.
