OFWs to Compete in P300K Dota 2 Tournament in Middle East
Being 7,208 kilometers away from their motherland is not enough to stop these Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) from living their passion: gaming.
A group of OFWs, made up of some former professional Dota 2 players back in the Philippines, will compete in a locally organized 25,000-dirham (P301,000~) tournament in Dubai — the “biggest” in Middle Eastern eSports history.
Dota 2 is a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game which pits two teams with the goal of destroying the opposition’s central structure.
Q.United, led by former Philippine professional Dota 2 players Ian “Tusheyy” Nairda and Gian Carlo “Gianteezy” Bandilla will go against other professional Dota 2 teams in the region in the “Clash of Legends” tournament hosted by QueClub on March 13-14.
More than just a game
“It’s hard to lose your passion. I always long for the things I used to do back in the Philippines. One of which is gaming,” Tusheyy says.
Tusheyy made a name in the Philippine competitive scene when his team, Team FullTilt, placed third in the Pinoy Gaming Festival (PGF) in 2012. After the event, the TNC gaming team sponsored them as they went to play together for at least three more months.
The team eventually disbanded and Tusheyy played as a stand-in for Execration in the latter part of that year. They placed fourth in the Mineski Pro Gaming League (MPGL) Southeast Asian (SEA) Season 5 Finals.
Tusheyy has been residing in the gulf state for a year now and currently works as a fiber technician for a local telecommunications company. He plays the support role for his team as well as serves as the co-captain.
Gianteezy, 24, is an accountant for a security agency in the Emirate of Ajman. He shared the same sentiments with his teammate. He has been a professional Dota player for almost 10 years now but took a hiatus in between his career in the Philippines due to his studies and relationship.
“I came back playing because I know that this is my passion. This is where I belong,” Gianteezy says as he recalled his career that began in 2005. He was one of those who competed in the first Mineski-hosted tournament in 2007 where his team, Rusty Gaming, placed third. Gianteezy currently shares the helm of leadership with Tusheyy in their new team.
Amid the hectic work schedules and the struggles they face due to being away from their loved ones, these OFWs find space to compete in local tournaments.
“A tournament as big as this is an important thing for us OFWs here because playing Dota 2 is our leisure and in some ways it reduces our homesickness,” said Marc “Diss” Martin, a logistics supervisor for a courier company and team captain of another Filipino team in Dubai, GTX.Doa.
“It’s also a good way for us Filipinos to showcase our talents and to compete against different nationalities,” he added. Diss has been a Dota player in the region for eight years now.
Given the migrant nature of OFWs — bounded by labor laws and working contracts — Filipino teams competing in Dubai aren’t that “stable”. Players would usually group up whenever there is an upcoming tournament for them to join and compete in, says Joemar “Oryt” Ventinilla, coach and manager of team Q.United.
“They get to have experience in terms of LAN competition here in Middle East and practically they could earn some money. Filipino gamers here mostly play at night due to their work schedules,” Oryt shared.
PIONEERS. Gianteezy with the father of Philippine eSports, Ronald “Roro” Robins, and other Dota 2 veterans in a newly opened Mineski Infinity branch in 2008. (Photo grabbed from Gianteezy’s Facebook)
Products of Philippine Dota
The co-captains of Q.United credited most of their experience and skills from joining local tournaments in the Philippines, especially the MPGL.
MPGL is a yearlong league that pits various Dota 2 teams in the Philippines for the title of best in the country.
Gianteezy’s career wasn’t in the spotlight unlike Tusheyy’s back in the Philippines. Gianteezy and his former team, Infamous, climbed their way up from Class B to Class S rank (Class B teams are the ones least in terms of competitiveness; Class S teams are the ones that compete at the highest level) in the country.
Although Infamous made it to the Class S rank last August 2014, Gianteezy had to drop abruptly from the team as he was scheduled to depart for Dubai shortly after the squad rose through the ranks.
His team then was picked up by Republic of Gamers (ROG) Taguig and reached the MGPL SEA Season 6 Ultimate Wildcards but were eliminated in the group stage phase.
“I can see that we can own this tournament given the experience that Ian [Tusheyy] and I got from MPGL. I can feel it and we will prove it,” Gianteezy expressed. “We want the 12,000 AED and we will prove that pinoy gaming is still the best.”
“[Given our MPGL experience] I think we can win this. Palag Palag ‘to eh!” Tusheyy exclaimed.
Gianteezy has been part of the Q. gaming team for quite some time now, while Tusheyy played for another Filipino team, GTX.Nvidia, for at least half a year before teaming up with Gianteezy.
The ‘biggest’ in Middle East
“For now, this is the biggest tournament so far here in the Middle East.”
These were the bold claims of Oryt when asked about this Dota 2 tournament compared to neighboring countries in the region. The tournament is even bigger in terms of prize money than the usual tournaments in the Philippines.
“I was like, woah! That is a big [tournament],” Gianteezy shared when he learned the announcement of the 25,000-AED tournament. “I could still remember when we won in the Class A division and became the champion. We only got P5,000; it’s very small compared to the tournaments here. In the previous tournament that we won, we got 1,500 AED which is almost P20,000 already.”
The Clash of Legends tournament will be hosted by QueClub, a billiards and gaming center situated in Oud Metha, Dubai. QueClub has been one of the frontiers of eSports in U.A.E, organizing small and large tournaments for gaming titles such as Dota 2, League of Legends (LoL) and Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO). QueClub hosted two Dota 2 tournaments in May and September last year with 15,000 AED and 23,500 AED in prize pools respectively.
Even some of the renowned Middle Eastern Dota 2 teams such as the Jordanian team, 4 bunnies 1 turtle (4b1t) and Iran-based team Scenario are reported to be flying to Dubai to compete in the tournament.
However, organizing a tournament in the small gulf state is somewhat a struggle, as it takes a tedious process from getting sponsors and organizing the event, Oryt says.
Q.UNITED. (L-R) Arvin “Sprakatoots” Yap (Support), Russel “Shadow” Delfino (Carry), Gian “Gianteezy” Bandilla (Mid-laner / Co-Captain), Ian “Tusheyy” Nairda (Support / Co-Captain), Carl “Mrovan” Atienza (Offlaner). (Photo grabbed from Yap’s Facebook account)
Other local gaming centers and cafes host their own mini-tournaments for only few number of teams to help sustain the community’s growth and competition. The Clash of Legends tournament will be in a double-elimination format over the course of two days.
“This 25,000-dirham tournament is just a result of the success of our previous tournaments. As one of the organizers, I’m just very happy that the sponsors themselves are the ones requesting now for us to host a tournament.” Oryt said. “What was once a small community with few mini-tournaments is now growing with tournaments of this caliber and even teams from nearby gulf states come here just to compete.”
“The Dota 2 scene here is all about bonding and friendship. Players can’t leave their friends or teammates just to make an unbeatable team; unlike in the Philippines, where everyone is looking to create a perfect team,” Gianteezy said.
“The eSports scene here in Dubai is not the huge compared to the Philippines. But I think that time will come that it will eventually grow given two factors: first, this is a rich country and secondly, it has a great internet connection that makes the players go up against other countries,” Tusheyy shared.
Photo banner by Juan Carlo Candido “Jucasa” Saquin
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