GH Alpha Upsets Liyab, Win PPGL 2019 S2 LoL
In a surprising upset, GH Alpha defeated Liyab Esports 2-0 to secure the Philippine Pro Gaming League Season 2 League of Legends title on August 11 at the MarketMarket! mall in Taguig.
Guardian’s Hive internet cafe is a shop along Pasong Tamo. It’s known for being a hotspot for the local League of Legends esports community for the past years.
Who knew that their team of up-and-comers — Juschie “GH Juschie” Tan, Drei “GH Drei” Santillan, Aaron “GH Aaron” Bingay, Jay “GH Speltz” Tabarangao, Reniel “GH dr4w” Angara and Sean “GH Helios” Miranda — would become victors of the Philippine Pro Gaming League?
In front of a live crowd, these young players took out one of the Philippine representatives to the LoL SEA Tour in a decisive 2-0 sweep.
Each game would start out with a lead from Liyab but GH Alpha would shine. Team fights translated to key objectives for GH Alpha throughout the series. They knew their pressure cooker game and won game 2 with a well-timed Irelia backdoor while Liyab was taking Baron.
Gio “G10” Dungca, one of the casters for PPGL, had this to say:
I think that Liyab didn’t do enough research on their opponents while GHA knew exactly how Liyab worked. They gave Liyab Ezreal TWICE. Every other team will ban Gari’s Ez. But the unrelenting pressure from GHA just killed that Ez pick… It’s refreshing to see underdog teams take down reigning champs like that.
The two (2) other seasons of the Philippine Pro Gaming League had major franchises like Mineski (now Liyab) and TNC hold the title. Guardian’s Hive’s win is a beacon of hope for all amateur teams.
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