ON AUGUST 22, Ateneo’s Loyola Gaming (LG) competed in three Esports AcadArena (EAA) events, namely the EAA Aces Valorant Campus Open, EAA’s Alliance League: Hearthstone tournament, and EAA Alliance League: League of Legends (LoL) tournament.
In the EAA Aces Valorant Campus Open, the LG Valorant team swept all five of its matches to bag their first ever intercollegiate championship title. Similarly, LG’s Rafael “useSplash” Evangelista also successfully advanced to the finals in EAA’s Alliance League: Hearthstone tournament. However, LG teammate Justin “Dippy” Ngkaion fell to Sian “Zells” Dela Cruz in his semi-finals match.
LG’s LoL team shared a similar fate with Ngkaion as they were overpowered by the undefeated University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD) Oblation Esports in their final elimination round match of the EAA Alliance League: LoL tournament.
EAA Aces Valorant Campus Open
With consistent kills throughout the tourney, Hugo “flacko” De Llamas was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in four out of LG’s five matches. Meanwhile, teammate Dominic “Skwamy” Juan won match MVP in the third game.
After a shaky start in their first game against the Central Philippine University (CPU) Golden Lions, the LG Valorant team discovered their form and handily defeated CPU. LG then breezed through their next two opponents to qualify for the semi-finals where they faced the UPD Oblation Esports.
Despite being down 4-8 in the first half of the semi-finals, the LG Valorant team was able to turn things around in the 22nd round. Despite facing a two on four disadvantage, the team was still able to eke out an 11-11 draw. This swung the momentum in LG’s favor as they emerged victorious with a final score of 13-11.
The LG Valorant team then faced the Malayan College Laguna Warlocks in the finals. Starting the match strong, LG held an early 9-3 advantage over their opponent. However, the Warlocks made a comeback as they forced a deuce with a score of 12-12. Needing two straight wins in the extra rounds, LG found an extra gear as they managed to defeat their opponents with a final score of 14-12.
MVP De Llamas was pumped by the improvements in his team’s performance after bagging their first championship in Valorant. “We’re ecstatic that we played well. It just goes to show how much more we can grow and achieve as time goes by,” De Llamas shared.
EAA Alliance League: Hearthstone Tournament
In the EAA Aces Hearthstone Tournament, LG found mixed success as only one of their two members advanced to the finals. Despite his valiant efforts, Ngkaion could not overcome drawing unfavorable cards as he fell, 1-2 in his semi-finals match against Holy Angel University’s Sian “Zells” Dela Cruz.
On the other hand, Evangelista employed a “high risk high reward” strategy against University of San Agustin’s Eric “RedStattik” Delos Reyes in his semi-final match. After winning the first game, Evangelista gained even more confidence and secured a 2-1 win in the best-of-three single elimination format.
With his win, Evangelista advanced to the finals and will face Dela Cruz on September 12. The match will be streamed through this link: twitch.tv/acadarenaph.
EAA Alliance League: League of Legends Tournament
Meanwhile, LG suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the UPD Oblation Esports in the EAA Alliance League: LoL Tournament. Starting the match in a passive manner, LG fell into a hole early in the game as UPD demonstrated better map movements. LG tried to claw their way back into the match until UPD’s Paolo “Solace” Co took advantage of the bonus movement speed from his teleport and taunted three members of the LG’s team. This proved to be the decisive fight as LG succumbed to UPD and were eliminated from the tournament.
Despite the LG LoL team’s lackluster performance, veteran LoL player Kenneth Alog remained proud of his team.“We could have played so much better and had a better execution of our plans, however at the end of the day, our friends over at Oblation Esports are the better team right now. I’m super proud of how far my team has come, and hopefully the LG LoL team will continue evolving as time goes by,” shared Alog.
