LOYOLA GAMING (LG) Terra swept the Southwestern University Phinma (SWU) Cobra Esports, 2-0, advancing to the group stage winner finals of AcadArena (AA) Alliance Games Split 2 last October 29. The AA-hosted Valorant tournament took on a fully online set-up with players competing from their own devices.
Matthew “Flex” Uy led the charge for the Blue and White as he was declared the Most Valuable Player of the series, posting a kill-death-assist ratio of 25-15.5-5.
LG Terra dominated Cobra Esports in the first game with a convincing 13-4 victory on Fracture. Although SWU put up a better fight in game two and almost forced a third game, Ateneo managed to shut down the spirited Visayan-squad, 15-13, on Ascent.
Skirmish in Fracture
After falling short of a championship in the last split, LG Terra started the first game in an explosive fashion and quickly dominated SWU. Anton “Moses” Rosales registered a triple kill in Round 4 and was followed by Uy’s own triple kill in Round 5. Overall, Ateneo’s calculated aggression in the defensive side resulted in them closing the half, 10-2.
LG Terra then opened the second half with a quick B-site execute and claimed the crucial pistol round, 11-2. Despite being on a gun disadvantage, SWU went on a mini-run and won the next two rounds, 4-11. LG’s Matthew “Matteo” Brillantes took charge of the last two rounds with his veteran savviness enroute to clean kills, allowing LG to close off the first map at 13-4.
“We had a good game plan coming into the first map, [and] we didn’t want to give them any room to work with, so we started the game early with aggression,” shared Rosales about LG Terra’s gameplan in the first map.
Forcing overtime in Ascent
Determined to show off in their debut, Cobra Esports quickly opened the second match with four unanswered rounds, 4-0. LG Terra stopped the bleeding in Round 5 after SWU ran out of time to execute, 1-4. However, Ateneo struggled to defend against SWU’s hyper-aggressive play style, resulting in the Blue and White’s two round deficit entering the second half, 5-7.
Emerging from halftime, SWU continued pressing LG Terra’s forces and skillfully maneuvered around Ascent to push their lead up to four, 9-5. Despite being behind for more than half the match, LG Terra was able to force overtime (OT) with impeccable executes and better mechanical skills, tying the match at 13-13. In OT, LG Terra showcased its championship pedigree with a flawless round 27 and lost only one member compared to SWU’s five in round 28, ultimately cementing Ateneo’s victory at 15-13.
“Despite going down 5-9 [in Ascent], the team kept their composure, and we were able to come back and close the series out,” Rosales added.
After their resounding comeback win, LG Terra will advance to the group stage winner finals of Bracket B. Follow The GUIDON Sports for more updates on LG Terra’s upcoming games. Fans can stream the matches on https://www.twitch.tv/acadarenaph or https://www.facebook.com/AcadArenaGG.
LG Terra Roster:
Michael Ken “FleX” Uy
Matthew “Matteo” Brillantes
Anton “Moses” Rosales
Justin “Dippy” Ngkaion
Stuart “Stu” De Guia
John Michael “Omni” Amador
Jake “Jacques” Uy
