THE LOYOLA Gaming (LG) Hydra defeated the Technical University of the Philippines (TUP) Gearhawks MVP to secure their second win in the Esports AcadArena National Campus Open (NCO) League of Legends (LoL) tournament on October 25. Joshua “Znake” Dinio and Yobhel “Yobhel” Nucum led the Blue and White in a slow but methodical dismantling of the Gearhawks through their flawless teamfight execution.
During the first phase of the draft, Yobhel immediately became the focus of the Gearhawks MVPs’ attacks after his stunning performance using Kassadin in their last match-up. Having learned their lesson from the previous game, TUP banned Yobhel from selecting Kassadin, forcing him to settle with Galio.
Early in the game, Gearhawks MVP secured the first dragon after a gank by TUP’s Cologen resulted in Yobhel’s death. A few moments later, TUP continued their onslaught after taking down the Blue and White’s first tower at the 15-minute mark. Despite these early losses, the gold advantage still went LG Hydra’s way behind Swapito, Yobhel, and Znake’s dominant lane performances.
As both teams fought for any advantage they could take, the Blue and White took a huge teamfight at the 16-minute mark. This resulted in the losses of TUP’s Nyebe and Cologen in favor of Znake and Yobhel. With momentum on LG Hydra’s side, they comfortably secured their lead through seamless teamfight execution. Their gold lead continued to snowball as the next three skirmishes resulted in a four-for-two trade at the 22-minute mark and an ace at both the 27-minute and 30-minute teamfights.
With two wins secured and one game left in the group stages, LG Hydra looks to continue their outstanding play and teamwork going into their final match. “We do not play for ourselves, we win together or we learn together. Our mentality is to stay hungry no matter the outcome,” explained Cavalry.
LG Hydra will seek to secure their slot in the playoffs with a win against Holy Angel University next Sunday, November 1, 5:00 PM, hosted on the AcadArena Facebook page.
LG Hydra lineup:
Zed ‘‘Swapito’’ Dy – Camille (5-1-7)
Matthew ‘‘Smexy’’ Isidro – Lillia (4-3-11)
Yobhel ‘‘Yobhel’’ Nucum – Galio (6-2-11)
Joshua ‘‘Znake’’ Dinio – Ashe (5-1-13)
Joseph ‘‘Cavalry’’ Chavez – Rakan (0-3-15)
