South Built Esports: Building Their VCT Repertoire at APAC Challengers

Amongst the many teams in the Filipino VALORANT scene, only a few of them ever rear out their heads towards prominence. We all know Team Secret, Bren Esports, Oasis Gaming, and, most certainly, South Built Esports. Ever since they entered the VALORANT scene in 2021, South Built has found itself at the forefront of Filipino VALORANT as one of the strongest teams in the country.

Their roster is composed of Johnty “JA” Arone, Elmer “micr0” Coloma, Chris “Pro” Martir, Deko “PapiChulo” Evangelista, Azis “azys” Nandang, and Jan Philip “flippy” Marique. JA, micr0, Pro, and PapiChulo were all former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pros who formerly played for Bren Esports.

Esports INQ got the chance to interview the last remaining Filipino representatives at VCT 2022: APAC Stage 1 Challengers. Here’s how it went:

Eager To Be The Best With A Positive Mindset

Like all VALORANT teams in existence, South Built aspires to be one of the best.

“Yung mga na-achieve namin during [our time as CS:GO pros] parang yun din yung goal namin noong nagswitch kami [to] VALORANT. Parang gusto lang namin i-prove na, kahit dito sa ibang game, kaya namin maging the best (Our achievements during our time as CS:GO pros were our goals when we switched to VALORANT. It’s like we wanted to prove, despite being in another game, that we can become the best),” micr0 stated.

As such, one of the team’s primary goals was to always have a positive mindset. JA revealed that being positive will allow them to seamlessly pull off plays during their games.

“Dapat [palaging] positive yung mindset namin throughout the duration of the tournament para ma-apply namin yung mga prinactice namin during scrims to actual games (We always aim to always have a positive mindset throughout the duration of the tournament in order apply what we practiced during scrims to actual games),” JA revealed.

Grateful To Become A PH Representative

Via South Built Esports

South Built Esports was able to represent the country at the VCT 2022: APAC Stage 1 Challengers, along with NAOS Esports whom they’ve beaten at the grand finals of the Philippine qualifiers. They have also clinched a playoffs spot wherein they will be facing Paper Rex first.

For azys, this simply meant that South Built is the best team from the Philippines for the APAC Challengers.

“I think it means na kami yung best sa Pilipinas, na kami dapat ang mag-represent ng Pilipinas sa APAC Challengers (I think it means that we’re the best in the Philippines, and that we’re supposed to represent the Philippines in the APAC Challengers),” azys declared.

With that said, flippy is also grateful for the chance to carry the Filipino flag at the VCT 2022: APAC Stage 1 Challengers.

“We’re really thankful [for being able to qualify at the VCT 2022: APAC Stage 1 Challengers] and grateful to [everyone in] the team,” flippy stated.

Despite the pressure of being a Filipino representative, flippy revealed that they’re always trying to remain composed in order to be consistent with their performances.

“[We have] to be like parang relaxed lang all the time kasi once you tense up it tends to change your game (We have to be like always relaxed all the time because once you tense up it tends to change your game),” flippy explained.

Trouble Waking Up?

Prior to the start of the latest VCT season, Filipino VALORANT was plagued by a ton of problems. From players and teams catching COVID to some teams reeling from the post-Odette catastrophe, there were a lot of hindrances during the offseason. So, we asked them, what was the team’s biggest hurdle they overcame? The answer: waking up early in the morning.

“Sa tingin ko yung pag-prepare namin is mababa lang pero yung pag-gising ng maaga medjo nahihirapan (I think our preparation was minimal but waking up early is a bit difficult),” PapiChulo jokingly revealed. “[During] the tournaments namin, medjo maaga na nagigising mga players namin (During our tournaments, our players do wake up early however),” he clarified.

This problem may be the explanation for the team’s slow start for some of their games. However, South Built has no problem waking up just in time and doing an impressive comeback every second half and maintaining their momentum come the second game.

“Mas nakaka-adjust kami ng mabilis (we can adjust faster),” PapiChulo revealed.

Team Performance

Waking up problems aside, South Built’s performance at the VCT 2022: APAC Stage 1 Challengers had a few shaky starts. They first lost in a sweep against FULL SENSE and were trailing at the first halves of their first games against Oblivion Force and Velocity Gaming.

“Siguro, right now medjo nag-struggle kami especially when it comes to mga first matches namin (Maybe, right now we’re a bit struggling especially when it comes to our first matches),” Pro revealed. “That’s why sa tingin ko hindi pa namin napapakita yung best performance namin dito sa entire VCT (That’s why I think we haven’t really shown our best performance in this entire VCT).”

Pro then stated that they’re actively trying to solve this problem.

“Yun yung tina-try namin i-figure out and i-work out kung papano namin maiiwasan yung mga ganung klase ng sitwasyon (That’s what we’re trying to figure out and work out in order for us to avoid those types of situations).”

Via South Built Esports

When asked how tough the competition was in their group, Pro revealed that none of them were easy opponents.

“Para sa akin, wala pong madali kaming nakalaban kasi all the teams that have qualified here sa VCT were all prepared (For me, we had no easy opponents as all the teams that have qualified here in VCT were all prepared).”

Pro then described FULL SENSE as the toughest team they ever faced because of Chanawin “JohnOlsen” Nakchain’s out-of-this-world performances.

“Siguro, yung toughest [opponent we faced] would be FULL SENSE because of JohnOlsen playing insane (Maybe, the toughest opponent we faced would be FULL SENSE because of JohnOlsen playing insane).”

Reykjavik Masters

With a chance to get into this year’s first VALORANT Masters at Reykjavik, Iceland, South Built is doing whatever they can to make this a possible reality. However, there is a slight problem as Leekseez, the team’s manager, revealed that there are slight visa complications due to their agency’s time difference.

“As of now, we are encountering problems between our agency and yung nag-hahandle ng visa applications dito sa Philippines (As of now, we are encountering problems between our agency and the one who’s handing the visa applications here in the Philippines),” Leekseez revealed.

However, Leekseez assures that they’re looking for possible alternate ways to deal with the visa problems.

“We are looking for some other ways,” Leekseez assuringly revealed.

If qualified, the team that South Built is looking out for is no other than VALORANT Champions runner-ups M3 Champions (formerly known as Gambit).

“For me, gustong gusto ko yung playstyle nila and gusto kong malaman yung routines and preparation na ginagawa nila pag mga tournaments like Masters and Champions (For me, I really dig their playstyle and I want to know their routines and preparation they do for tournaments Masters and Champions),” Pro explained. “Sila po ang most consistent team (They are the most consistent team).”

“Kahit di sila nagchampions last [VALORANT Champions], sila parin yung sobrang pinapanuod ng mga teams. Sa kanila nag-bebase ng mga strats (Despite not being the champions last VALORANT Champions, they’re still the most watched team for a lot of teams. They base their strats on them ),” micr0 added.

South Built Esports will be facing Paper Rex for their first match in the VCT 2022: APAC Stage 1 Challengers today, March 24, 2022. For more South Built Esports, you can look for their official pages and website here.

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