Philippines lands in Group B of Star Ladder Finals
Dark Horse? #LABANPINAS !
The Philippines was drawn into group B of Star Ladder Star Series X finals – pitted against European powerhouses – on Monday morning (Philippine time).
Interactive Philippines. Execration (IAP.XCTN), the sole representative from Southeast Asian (SEA) region, will be up against Team Secret, one of the tournament’s favorite; Natus Vincere (Na’Vi), three time The International (considered as the world championship of Dota 2) grand finalist and Virtus.Pro, the lone Russian flag bearer.
Team IAP.XCTN are considered as the underdog and dark horse of the Local Area Network (LAN) finals, but they will come in composed and confident.
“Actually it doesn’t matter who are we going up against. Every team is a Tier 1 (highest rank dubbed into a team) team. We’re coming in prepared anyway,” said Arvin Risos, Team IAP.XCTN’s manager in an interview with Esports Inquirer. “We’re aiming for the championship. Aim high!”
The eight teams that qualified in the LAN finals, were divided into two groups. And will follow a double-elimination playoffs with the top one and two of each group seeded into the Winner’s bracket, while the third and fourth will be in the Loser’s bracket, respectively.
The finals will be held on October 23 to 26 in CyberSport Arena, Kiev, Ukraine. The current prize pool of the tournament sits with $267,070 (P11.98 million).
The results of the draw can be found below:
GROUP A:
Team Alliance, Evil Geniuses, Team Tinker, Cloud 9
GROUP B:
Team Secret, IAP.XCTN, Na’Vi, Virtus.Pro
Photo banner grabbed from Star Ladder website.
Watch the replay of the group draw.
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