IN LIGHT of the COVID-19 pandemic, the latter half of 2020 has taken esports to the center of the sporting world. As the competitive gaming scene continues to grow, esports programs have begun organizing more intercollegiate tournaments for student gamers to participate in. At the forefront of this movement is Loyola Gaming (LG) as they represent Ateneo in many of these esports tournaments.
Currently, the members of LG are competing in the Alliance League—an intercollegiate tournament organized by Esports AcadArena (EAA). The team is fielding representatives for the league’s two main titles: Hearthstone and League of Legends (LoL). Aside from this, LG will also participate in the upcoming EAA Aces Valorant Campus Open.
EAA Alliance League: Hearthstone tournament
The Alliance League: Hearthstone tournament began last July 25 with 16 gamers from participating schools nationwide. In this 1v1 turn-based strategy card game, players must defeat the enemy hero by building a stronger deck. This year’s tournament follows a single-elimination format wherein players must win each match in order to advance to the next phase of the competition.
LG has two representatives competing in the said tournament, namely Justin “Dippy” Ngkaion and Rafael “use Splash” Evangelista. Both players have qualified for the quarterfinals and are scheduled to contend for a spot in the semi-finals on August 22.
Among the tournament’s eight remaining participants, Ngkaion stands out in terms of skill. Although he is new to Hearthstone’s competitive scene, he is already ranked eighth in the country. Ngkaion also finished within the top eight of the recently held AKG Games Elite Series Qualifiers for Masters Tour Montreal, a global Hearthstone tournament.
Meanwhile, Evangelista is no pushover either as he placed third in the EAA 2019 Spring Luzon Regionals last December.
With two promising players competing in the game, LG hopes to bring home the title.
EAA Alliance League: League of Legends tournament
LoL is another one of Alliance League’s main titles. The tournament features a single round robin format with the semis and finals incorporating a single-elimination format. Tournament matches began last July 25 and will wrap up by mid-September.
Approaching the tail end of the elimination round, the LG League of Legends team is currently at third place in Group A with a 2-1 elimination round record. The team’s lone defeat came against the Far Eastern University Institute of Technology iTamaraws.
In their final elimination round match on August 22, the LG’s LoL team is scheduled to face the undefeated University of the Philippines-Diliman Oblation Esports. In order to fight for a spot in the semis, the team must triumph over UP to force a three-way tie at number one. An ensuing tiebreaker will then take place as only the top two teams from each group may advance to the next round.
LG’s LoL team has set high expectations for themselves in this tournament after finishing as first runners-up in both the AcadArena Aces: Summer Open and La Liga Pilipinas last June. Last July, they also placed fourth in one of Asia’s biggest student-oriented esports tournaments, the 2020 World University Cyber League Southeast (WUCL) Asia qualifier.
LG League of Legends team:
- Franz “Franz” Penilla – Top
- Simon “Jooly” Garnace – Jungle
- Yobhel “Yobhel” Nucum – Mid
- Marc “Hakaw” Yang – Bottom
- Kenneth “Kellogg” Alog – Support
- Jake “Vampy” Cheng – Bottom (Substitute)
- Joshua “Couch” Payawal – Mid (Substitute)
EAA Aces Valorant Campus Open
Meanwhile, Valorant has quickly gained a massive following among university students since its release two months ago. Developed by Riot Games, this 5v5 character-based tactical shooter game allows competing teams to win via a spike explosion, defuse, or a kill.
EAA Aces Valorant Campus Open is one of the upcoming intercollegiate competitions for the new game. Matches are scheduled to begin on August 22 and will follow a single-elimination format.
LG Valorant is set to represent Ateneo in the said tournament. To prepare for their upcoming match, the team has been playing scrimmage games against ranked servers and other collegiate teams like the Mapúa University Spades. Meanwhile, team member Timmy Albert’s additional preparations include competing in the AMD open tournament on August 18 as LG’s sole representative.
LG Valorant team:
- Timmy “yabba” Albert
- Franco “Tri0let” Dytianquin
- Ignatius “bLIMEY” Cu
- Hugo “flacko” De Llamas
- Raphael “raphitb” Santiago
- Dominic “Skwamy” Juan
As the country’s intercollegiate esports scene develops, LG continues to make their presence known in the esports community in their bid to represent the Blue and White. Those interested in supporting LG’s Alliance League matches on August 22 can stream the games through this link: twitch.tv/acadarenaph.
ERRATUM: In an earlier version of the article, the EAA 2019 Spring Luzon Regionals was incorrectly referred to as the Far Eastern University Esports Nexus. The article has since been edited accordingly. We apologize for the oversight.
