Filipinos and Dota 2 in the Year 2014

Filipinos and the local professional gaming scene that it built up around the game of Dota 2 is a love story. It (Dota 2) is a direct descendant of one of the world’s most famous custom maps to ever grace the Warcraft 3 engine. Known as Defense of the Ancients, the game is one in a list of the most popular and fast-growing genre of video games called Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas (MOBA).

Here in the Philippines, fans cheered and wept as Mineski — one of the most recognized Filipino professional gaming teams — took on the best that the world could offer in the first-ever International, the most prestigious tournament in all of Dota 2, back in 2011. No one ever thought that Mineski could survive the first round…until they defeated one of the world’s finest teams in the era: OK.Nirvana.Cn in a nerve-wracking 60+ minute game. The Philippine team showed the world at such an early stage that with the right mindset, there is always a chance that the Philippines can go toe-to-toe with the rest of the world in the realm of Dota 2.

For a couple of years, there was a lull in the Philippines eSports scene as our teams kept getting smashed by our Southeast Asian neighbors, especially Malaysia and Singapore. Surely, we have won a few trophies here and there, but it wasn’t enough. We grew sick and tired to the point that we have started to ask ourselves: “Is there a good end for this story?”

We almost made it to the International just last year during the Asian qualifiers. Another Philippine team, Execration, at the time was unable to deliver on its promise despite having a stellar pre-qualifier record, while Mineski stepped up and even went as far as the playoffs; however, Thailand’s MiTh-Trust bricked Mineski, dropping the last Philippine hope from reaching the stage in Seattle.

Just as everyone once again counted “Pinoy Dota” out of the equation, the reformed Execration started to inch their way up quietly in the wake of this year’s The International. It was a very ugly journey and at the time, teams such as the former MSI-EvoGT and Arcanys Gaming were also getting traction on the way to being recognized as the best team in the Philippines (both of them would later get 2^nd and 3^rd in the Asian E-Sports Federation Dota 2 Championship, respectively).

After fifty official matches later in all of the tournaments that they have participated, Execration they finally received the fruits of their labor: They become the first Filipino team to fight in the StarLadder LAN Finals, as well as the first team to represent South East Asia in the said tournament. At the same time, they also secured a very good position in the WePlay League Season 3 with a chance to book their tickets to Russia for the grand finals, which will feature teams from all over the world.

Another upstart Philippine team, Rave, has been slowly taking tournaments by storm. Playing out of South Korea, the team composed of Filipino players have been playing in a different scene than the rest of SEA. Representing the the Philippine flag in tournaments, they have gotten themselves a neat 3^rd/4^th place in I-League Season 1 which was held in China. Last weekend, they also competed as the winner of the Asia-Pacific Qualifier in the MSI Beat It! LAN tournament held in Taiwan.

With their consistent performance, they are looking forward to join Execration as the flagship teams of Philippine Dota this year.

Despite the fact that they were burdened with a match-fixing scandal, Mineski has seemed to get back into the game quite quickly with a respectable second-place finish at the Thailand Big Game Dota 2 Championship as well as another second place during the ESL Philippine Grand Finals just a couple of days ago. Recently, roster changes and shake-ups were announced as the most prominent gaming club in the country announced that they are signing on Malaysian professional Siong Tait “Johnny” Lee of Arrow Gaming and Johnny’s Revenge fame into their squad.

Cebu-based Arcanys, as mentioned above, has bagged the top spot in ESL as well as the third place in the Asian IESF, proving that excellence in eSports doesn’t need to come from a single place or region.

With all the successes and breaks that Pinoy Dota has gotten since post-TI4, one thing is clear: Our brand of Dota is back in the eyes of the scene. I’m not here to spoil everyone’s fun, but several questions remain: Will we be able to step up? Will we be able to stay consistent? And most importantly, will we be able to have a chance at the Aegis of Champions once again?

Only time will tell.

And I hope that it’s not just a dream.

*Note: The columnist’s views do not represent eSports Inquirer’s position on the topic or issue being discussed in this article.

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