PRIOR to the M3 World Championship, BTK was considered to be one of the bottom feeders in the tournament given the lack of support from their region.
In fact, it is widely known that the North American team only met each other inside the airport. There are even unverified accounts that the team didn’t have any financial backer, and so the players were the ones to shoulder majority of the expenses.
Given the situation, no one expected BTK to make a deep push inside the Suntec Arena. But to everyone’s surprise, they did the impossible — they sent the heavy favorites, Blacklist International to the lower bracket (though they eventually lost against them in their rematch in the lower bracket finals).
Ultimately, the team garnered a third place finish, which ZIA admittedly never expected.
“Nakakagulat din kase para sa akin hindi ko talaga expected na magta-top three kami e,” he said in a livestream with shoutcaster Dan "Leo" Cubangay.
While he was full of doubts about their chances against the Southeast Asian giants, his teammates were more upbeat about the daunting situation.
“[S]uper confident silang apat na top four top three sila, pero ako, ang layo kase ng gap e," remembered ZIA. "Masyadong magagaling na sila sa Asia.”
ZIA realized that BTK had what it takes
But everything changed for BTK's lone Pinoy player upon scrimming with the teams competing in the M3.
Rumors have swirled that BTK was able to deliver an impressive outing when scrimming against the Indonesian teams, with Onic Esports’ star, Muhammad Satrya “Butsss” Sanubari, saying that Michael “MobaZane” Cosgun secured a savage against them.
“Noong pumunta kami diyan at nag-scrim, hindi pala ganoon kalayo yung skill gap. Doon ako naging confident na kaya naming talunin kahit sino,” said ZIA.
The sudden jolt of confidence allowed BTK to send the best teams to the lower bracket, until they encountered some heavy resistance from Onic PH.
Going up against the Filipino teams
ZIA was finally given the chance to showcase his Pinoy pride and resilience against one of the best Filipino teams in Onic PH, and while he was able to surprise the other competing teams, he did say that he struggled against the Filipino Hedgehog’s playstyle.
“Yung pinakamahirap yung midlane ng Onic si Hate at tsaka si Baloy, kase hindi ako sanay sa playstyle nila na pickoff, yung bigla-biglang lalabas. Bigla-biglang papasukin, sabay na may Pharsa ult. Hindi ako sanay sa ganoon.”
He further emphasized Baloyskie’s impact: “Lalo na yung map pressure ng Natalia ni Baloy, mahirap gumala ng isa.”
This echoes the sentiments of teammate MobaZane, who admitted after the tournament that Onic PH "f---ed them up."
BTK was eventually sent down to the lower bracket, where they faced a vengeful Blacklist International.
ZIA had nothing but praises for Edward “Edward” Jay Dapadap’s playstyle.
“Si Edward, lalo na yung Paquito niya. Grabe mag-Paquito eh. Yung tipong apat silang umaalis na, tapos siya yung naiwan para i-zone kami ni Chickn. Kung hindi niya kami zi-none nun, mag-iiba yung flow ng laro eh.”
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