REX REGUM Qeon lives up to their moniker “The King of Kings” as they triumph over Fennel Adversity, 4-1, to win the first Wild Rift Championship Philippines.
With the win, the squad of DevilJ, Chazz, Helios, Marky, Exosen, and sub Maze has won $30,000 (more than P1.5 million) and will represent the Philippines in the Wild Rift Championship SEA (WCS) Playoffs.
RRQ had the difficult task of fighting through the lower bracket after losing to “rivals” Team Secret in the first round of the Playoffs. But the team had nowhere to go but up as they went through a tear in the lower bracket, sweeping Oasis Gaming (3-0) in the first round of eliminations, proceeding to beat GrindSky 3-1, then surprising top-seeded Team Underground 4-1, to secure their spot in the grand finals.
WCS Finals recap: Fennel Adversity bows down to RRQ
In the finals, it was Fennel Adversity who struck first as they took Game 1 with a quick 16-minute game one victory.
Game 2 was a much slower affair as the two teams treaded carefully against one another.
It would be RRQ who drew first blood, catching Fennel off guard in their own Red side jungle at only the 10th minute. A team fight around the Ocean Drake in the 15th minute saw RRQ take down four of Fennel's champs to gain the momentum needed to slowly move away from the second seeds.
While another team fight for the Elder Drake at the 22:30 minute mark went in favor of RRQ, as the team took downdown three of Fennel's champs without losing a single champion enough to close out the game.
Game 3 saw both teams on even footing as late as 20 minutes in. However, it was RRQ’s flawless macro plays that broke the deadlock as toplaner DevilJ continuously sieged Fennel’s open-top inhibitor tower while the rest of the teams danced around the Elder Cloud Drake. Fennel blinked first, TP-ing to the Elder in the 23 minute mark, and RRQ was ready to instantly take down two of Fennel's champs before TP-ing themselves to Fennel's bases and destroying the Nexus.
RRQ surprised in Game Four with a much faster pace, leading to more skirmishes between the squads. The game had 30 total kills in just 16 minutes of action with RRQ going up with a 12k gold lead. They would go on to ace Fennel in the 17th minute to grab the championship point.
RRQ found great team fights to neutralize Fennel Adversity all throughout Game 4. It started with a 4:30 team fight for the first Rift Herald, where RRQ aced Fennel and also grabbed the Herald. Another team fight around Fennel’s second-tier mid towers saw RRQ take down three of Fennel’s champions and two inhibitor towers.
A 19th-minute death bush by RRQ paid dividends as they take down Fennel’s dragon lane duo giving RRQ the space to take the Elder Cloud drake and Baron enough to end the game in 22-minutes to win them their first hardware.
RRQ keeps their focus
“Kumakanta po kami, nagva-vibing po kami, pero yung emotions middle pa din, focus pa din,” Chazz told the panel when asked what was going through the team’s minds in the last few minutes of the series.
“Hindi ko rin po in-expect kasi yung roster namin sobrang daming pinagdaanan," answered Chazz when asked about his thoughts on being the best jungler in the competition.
"Maraming roster changes kaya nung umpisa po hindi po ako sure na best jungler ako kasi ang hirap po mag-adjust pag yung roster changes nag-a-adjust kaya ang daming nagso-show-off din po na (ibang) jungler pero ayun po, naging consistent lang po ako at pinatunayan ko sa team kaya ko maging independent.”
Despite the heartbreak loss, Fennel still took home #25,000 or more than P1.2 million, as well as repping the country in the play-in stage of the Wild Rift Championship SEA finals set for next month.
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