At the sidelines of the Mineski Professional Gaming League (MPGL) Season 6 Southeast Asian (SEA) Grand Finals, eSports Inquirer spoke with Atty. Carlos “Holyman” Mangco for his thoughts on the competition so far.

A former Mineski Defense of the Ancients (DotA) 1 player, Holyman has since turned in his mouse for law books but has never let go of the competitive gaming scene. He serves as a panelist and analyst for this weekend’s competition.

According to Holyman, Vietnamese team NVIDIA.Aces shocked everyone when they escaped the group stages with a pristine 6-0 record, besting Filipino favorites in Execration.

“Aces really had a unique approach to drafting their heroes for the group stages,” said Holyman. “At this stage of the tournament, you don’t want to show off all your cards to your opponents. You want to use unconventional picks and steal games to get to the big stage.”

Holyman referred to the group stage format. As a Best-of-1 format, teams improve or drop in a series of single matches. Aces dazzled the competition by selecting unconventional hero combinations such as Sniper.

In contrast, Holyman and the rest of the panel were surprised that Team Malaysia fell to a bubble match with a record of 5-1.

“Due to not finishing one of their matches in a timely fashion, Team Malaysia was placed in a lower seed despite being tied with other Philippine teams like Rave and Arcanys,” he said. “Once we get to a multi-game format, I expect Team Malaysia to perform better based on their experience in skill.”

Asked for his favorites to win the event, Holyman coyly pointed out three teams poised to take this year’s title.

“While my heart belongs to Arcanys Gaming to win the whole thing, due in part to their tenacity and hunger for the win, I think Rave and Team Malaysia might end up on the top of the heap after the chaos of the Best-of-1 format is over.”

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