Meet Renovatio, Our Heroes of The Storm International Representatives
Fresh from their win at the Southeast Asia Spring Regionals, Renovatio is preparing for a tough road ahead as they prepare for the Spring Global Championship.
Who are they?
First, we have John “HarHarrr” Ichikawa, who is the caller and warrior for Renovatio. HarHarrr has been competing in professional eSports since 2010. He’s actually well-versed in first-person shooter (FPS) titles and he’s got a roster of championships under his belt, such as Kill On Sight (2010) with Team MainFrame and Assault Fire (2013-2014) with Imperium Pro Team. Individually, he also includes won multiple accolades such as “Captain of the Year”, “Season MVP” and “Finals MVP”. in the past.
Though he specializes in using Warrior heroes, HarHarrr’s favorite is actually the Dark Templar himself, Zeratul.
Asked where did his “Battle Tag” come from, he mentioned that it is actually the nickname of his long time girlfriend, Harlyn. Sweet gaming, no?
Then, we have Ronel “Stronger” Tan, a support player who proven himself as a player to watch for in multiple game genres including Dragon Nest and League of Legends.
He was part of LoL’s Manila Eagles in 2013 and of Wargods Pro Gaming Team, winning multiple championships in the process.
Originally, Stronger was part of Wargods, which was Bibingka’s top contender. He joined the team in 2015 and he loves spaghetti a lot to the point that he can’t live without it!
Meanwhile, Neil “vyy” San Juan is a flex player. He is a seasoned veteran in the local eSports scene.
Part of Team Wargods and Manila Eagles for LoL, vyy won multiple championships in 2014 and 2015. He was even part of the Philippine national team in LoL’s Worlds Season 1. Sweden and Taiwan are just some of the places he’s gone to represent the country in competition. Now, he’s heading to Seoul, South Korea. Vyy admires Kerrigan and he said that if he had his way, he would like to see a “human Sarah Kerrigan hero” to join the Nexus too.
Afterwards, we have Winston “Miseryprox” Hernaez, who is another Filipino esports veteran. He was part of LoL’s famed Manila Eagles along with vyy. He’s taken on teams locally and internationally in the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) genre, even journeying to Taiwan to represent the Philippines. He is known among his team for being late when it comes to appointments.
Finally, we have Giovanni “Hyskoa” Ong, a player who specailaizes in the assassin role. Hyskoa happens to be one of the founding members of team Bibingka and he is the glue that ties the team together.
Thoughts
After winning the Southeast Asia Spring Regionals, the team sat down to share some things to the public. According to HarHarrr, the team started because everyone in their team plays in the same internet cafe. cZz, Asurai (Darwell Llarena) and vyy were actually the first ones to try out Heroes of the Storm. They ended up inviting rest of the team to play and to continue playing competitively.
Afterwards, when asked to reflect on the time when they needed to change their support player and Renovatio’s captain said the following:
He was a key part of the team playing the support role. Naturally when he decided to leave, we had to find an equally strong if not a stronger member. Luckily for us, we got just what we needed: We got Stronger, who was already a renowned MOBA player.
Asked when there is anyone in particular you are looking forward to facing at the Spring Gobal Championships, HarHarrr mentioned that he “definitely wants to face MVP Black from Korea and e-Star from China.” Chiming in, Miseryprox mentioned that he wanted to go up against Renovatio II as well Southeast Asian teams and Korean teams.
Shoutouts
They finished the interview by saying their messages: HarHarrr sent his regards to all of the players of T9 and to Harlyn Kate, his girlfriend, for supporting him throughout all these times. Meanwhile, Stronger and vyy chose to greet their respective families and friends and Miseryprox said hi to his former teammates.
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