BEHIND THEIR stellar team play, Loyola Gaming (LG) Azure dominated the iAcademy Elix Esports to bag the championship in the Esports AcadArena (EAA) COED Invitational Valorant Tournament, 13-2, 13-4. The two-day tournament was held last weekend, October 3 and 4, and featured 11 teams in a do-or-die single-elimination format.
As a part of EAA’s Virtual Assembly, the month-long tournament series of esports events aimed to foster new relationships among college students. Aside from building a broader network, the tournament was also a win for women in esports as the tournament rules required each participating team to field at least two female players.
“It was fun because I got to meet players who like playing Valorant too. So just getting a chance to play against people who are better than me and seeing the more competitive play. It was really fun and rewarding,” shared Ana “Mewwee” Fuentes.
With this rule, LG tapped Fuentes and Inah “muhreena” Labung to complete the team. However, this meant that LG Azure had less time to prepare for the tournament. “We only played one to two games [scrimmage matches] before the actual games,” shared Fuentes.
Despite the limited practice time, the odds were in LG Azure’s favor as they drew a bye in the first round. The team then stormed out of the gates in their second round matchup against the Malayan Warlocks Team B, winning by a sizable 13-2 score to advance to the semi-finals. “It boosted our confidence, especially going into the semi-finals facing DLSU,” shared team member Patrick “patsk1doo” Lanuza.
Facing a very strong team in the De La Salle University (DLSU) Viridis Arcus Esports, LG Azure seemed to have finally found their match. The two teams engaged in a tightly-contested affair with lots of back-and-forth action. However, the momentum shifted in DLSU’s favor in the 24th round after Dominic “skwamy” Juan blew five crucial chances to claim the victory. Juan’s mishap allowed DLSU to tie the match at 12-12, sending the game into overtime.
Despite his prior setback, Juan redeemed himself three rounds later as he overcame an improbable 1v4 situation to claim the lead for LG, 14-13. Juan’s comeback was the game-changer LG needed to finish DLSU off, 15-13, to advance to the finals.
“[Juan’s comeback] affected La Salle’s mentality and influenced the very last round. At the same time, it boosted our confidence. [Once] we got the match point, we were hyped and didn’t want to let Dominic’s [Juan] effort go to waste,” said Lanuza.
With their marginal victory against DLSU in the semi-finals, LG Azure had both momentum and confidence on their side. The team steamrolled past the iAcademy Elix Esports in the best-of-three finals, using their superior execution and play calling to snag the championship, 13-2, 13-4.
“Because of the DLSU win, it boosted our confidence and our mentality. DLSU is one of the top teams in the collegiate NCR region. So feeling namin na since natalo na namin yung (we felt that since we defeated) [the] team that we’re scared of the most, we could already beat any other team,” explained Lanuza.
The win awarded LG Azure with a cash prize of Php 7,000 while each member received 750 Valorant Points.
LG Azure Roster:
- Ana “Mewwee” Fuentes
- Dominic “skwamy” Juan
- Hugo “flacko” De Llamas
- Inah “muhreena” Labung
- Patrick “patsk1doo” Lanuza
