Justin "Nuks" Santos wasn't even sure at first if he cracked the lower bracket of the StarCraft II playoffs in the 30th Southeast Asian Games.
"Aalis na sana 'ko, pero tinawag ako nung coach or manager na parang may tiebreaker," he told SPIN Life Thursday evening. "Kasi medyo alanganin 'yung place ko, 'di pa confirmed na (fourth ako sa group) so bumalik ako."
The 24-year-old Zerg player mustered a 2-3 series record (5-8 win-loss) in the group stage of the esports competitions held at the Filoil Flying V Center. After a successful start against Deruziel of Indonesia (2-1), Nuks fell to a pair of Protoss users in Malaysia's Lobo (0-2) and Singapore's Ranger (1-2). He did recover versus Thailand's KomCorx (2-1), before getting swept by Group A leader MeomaikA of Vietnam.
His performance was still impressive, especially for someone who juggles his professional gaming career with academics at the University of the Philippines Manila. During the Sibol qualifiers, the only player better than Nuks was teammate Caviar "EnDerr" Acampado (5-0 in Group B), who is out to exact revenge on his WESG tormentor MeomaikA in the winner's finals.
Nuks admitted that more joint training sessions with EnDerr and less commitments outside Sibol would've helped his cause.
He explained, "Medyo mahirap kasi 'yung logistics eh. 'Yung training facility ko kasi sa Makati, tapos siya sa Quezon City. Nakapag-practice naman kami together pero 'di 'yung magkasama sa isang lugar, na nangyari sana kung 'di sumabay 'yung pag-aaral ko."
Now, Nuks can't afford to drop a best-of-five series if they're hoping for an All-Filipino grand finals.
According to Liquipedia, he has to go through Group A third placer Blysk of Singapore, followed by a rematch with Ranger just to reach the loser's semifinals. For EnDerr's part, a victory over MeomaikA secures him at least a silver medal, but a defeat means that he has to beat the winner of the lower bracket for another shot at SEA Games gold.
"I'll just try my best and play my game, and hopefully kayanin," Nuks said.
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