THE PHILIPPINES was named overall champion in the World Electronic Sports Games (WESG) Southeast Asia Finals for the second year in a row, after getting three podium finishes out of four esports events.
TNC Predator repeated as regional champs for Dota 2 after beating Vietnamese team 496 Gaming in a thrilling three-game title series.
The predominantly Filipino squad looked out of form in the opening match, losing key team fights in the late game and ultimately crumbling against their SEA rivals. Backs against the wall, TNC bounced back with a quick sub-30-minute Game 2 to set up a rubber match.
The winner-take-all appeared to be going in 496's favor, as the Viets picked off heroes in the early and mid-game. However, Kim "Gabbi" Villafuerte's Naga Siren was left unchecked and the reigning champions were able to turn the game around with crucial team fights.
TNC, which swept the group stage (4-0), pocketed 7,500 USD — about P379,000 — for coming out on top of the regionals and now have the chance to defend their title in the WESG Global Finals, which will happen March next year.
It was a different story for the country's StarCraft II representative in the upcoming SEA Games, though, as Caviar "EnDerr" Acampado failed to secure back-to-back WESG regional championships and fell to last year's runner-up, Tran "MeomaikA" Hong Phuc from Vietnam. Both players qualified for the global finals.
EnDerr, who netted $2,000 or about P100,000, managed to take the opener, but MeomaikA maintained composure to go all the way in the Zerg versus Zerg matchup.
Meanwhile, female CS:GO Team Amplify took home bronze and the same prize money as EnDerr.
The group of Kyung In "Tr1cks" Lee, Tiara "Alluka" Pleno, Pat "c0ffee" Lagua, Aya "Kuchii" Kashikawa, and Daisy "Dzai" Madulin lost to Indonesian squad Celeste in the semifinals, then beat Thailand's Mystery to finish third.
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