INEXPERIENCE AND lack of preparation time proved to be Loyola Gaming’s (LG) downfall as they failed to score a podium finish in the AcadArena National Campus Open for Hearthstone last November 20. Representing LG in the tournament were Michael “Mgan” Gan, Justin “dippy” Ngkaion, and Rafael “use Splash” Evangelista who finished in fifth, seventh, and eighth place, respectively.
As the tournament followed the Swiss format, each participant played five best-of-three matches in the elimination round, with the Top 8 players advancing to the playoffs. The tournament served as a qualifier to represent the Philippines in the 2020 International Esports Festival hosted by South Korea.
Because of Gan’s ability to play his opponents’ decks to his advantage, he stormed to a 4-1 match record in the elimination round. However, Gan’s opponent was able to adjust and counter his attacks in the quarterfinals that booted him out of contention and concluded his tournament run at fifth place.
Similarly, Evangelista had an impressive start as he won his first two games. However, his luck quickly ran out as bad draws resulted in back-to-back losses in his third and fifth matches. His demise continued in the quarterfinals as he suffered a similar fate with Gan, finishing the tournament at seventh place.
Meanwhile, Ngkaion had a slow start to the competition, losing his first game because of bad draws that were no match against his opponent’s perfect card combinations. On the verge of his first win in his second game, Ngkaion only needed to inflict one more damage but failed to close out the game. Despite his slow start, Ngkaion bounced back in his last game, salvaging a win to snatch the last spot in the Top 8. However, Ngkaion also lost his quarterfinal game to end his campaign at eighth place.
Despite the disappointing finish, Ngkaion was proud of how the whole team fought amid the challenges and little training they had. “I was really nervous because I haven’t played Hearthstone in a long time [because] I focused more on Valorant,” Ngkaion said. “I [also] felt really impressed [with] our team’s performance because my two teammates are still new to this, and they managed to also get to Top 8 right away.”
