Polaris talks about representing PH in IESF, DPC Divison I run

(from left to right) Cml, Mac, Akashi, Coach JL, Dave Bernasibo (Esports INQ), Boomy, Bok. | Photo by Gef Osorio

After a grueling qualifier tournament held by SIBOL, two teams have emerged on top to represent the Philippines in the upcoming International Esports Federation World Championship 2023. Polaris Esports and Team Execration will join forces to form the SIBOL 2023 combine.

Esports INQ sat down with Cebu-based Dota 2 team Polaris Esports for an interview regarding their recent achievement as PH representatives for IESF. The current SIBOL team is composed of the whole Polaris Esports squad and coach Josef Leonard “JL” Brazal, with the addition of Justine Ryan “Tino” Grimaldo from Team Execration.

IESF representatives

This is not the first time that Polaris Esports had represented the country. Marvin “Boomy” Rushton, Jun “Bok” Kanehara, Bryan “cml” Alvizo, and Mc Nicholson “Mac” Villanueva represented the Philippines in the Southeast Asian Games Dota 2 Tournament in 2019. The Philippine team won and snagged the gold medal for the tournament, beating the Thailand team in a nail-biting 3-2 final match. Meanwhile, Eljohn “Akashi” Andales also represented the country in last year’s IESF, paired together with players from GrindSky Esports.

“It feels good [to represent the country again]. The last time we played, we won,” said Bok when asked about how he feels about being the country’s representative again. “This year we want to keep striving and aim for the gold.” Polaris team manager Gef Osorio added that he is proud of the team’s achievement and that he is confident in their abilities to “bring home the ginabot.” Ginabot is the Cebuano take on chicharon bulaklak, which is a deep-fried pork intestine often served in hawker stores called pungko-pungko. 

When asked about how they feel about a combined roster, Boomy said that he would have representatives coming from the same team. “For me, it’s better if we choose only one team to represent the country. Ang isa ka team man gud, naa na’y chemistry daan. If mag combine pa ka, need pa mo ug time to build up the chemistry (If we stick to one team, the chemistry is already there. If we combine different teams, we need more time to build up the chemistry).” Cml agrees with Boomy’s sentiments, saying that different players from different teams would have a hard time synchronizing their schedules to build up chemistry.

The IESF World Championship 2023 will be held in Iasi, Romania from August 25 to September 3. 16 teams who passed the IESF Regional Qualifiers will be fighting for the IESF Dota 2 World Champion title, currently held by Indonesia.

Division I vs. Division II

The team was promoted to Division I of the DPC for the recently tour, but had a less-than-stellar run that relegated them back to Division II. The team was in unison concerning the differences in the playing environment between both divisions. “There’s a huge skill gap present in both divisions,” said Boomy. “Division I teams have their own identities and established playstyles compared to those teams in Division II.” Mac added to the point, saying that Division I players feel like they’ve been playing Dota 2 all their lives, and that it’s one of the more noticeable skill gaps in both divisions.

Polaris coach JL said that Team SMG was their toughest opponent during the tour. “It wasn’t how they looked on paper, or by score, or past achievements. It’s how we felt when we were playing them,” he said. Cml agreed with the coach’s sentiments, adding that Team SMG had a unique playstyle. “If you give them certain heroes to play with, they’ll be running down the map and it would be hard for us to counter their play.”

The team ended the second DPC tour with a record of 1-6, placing them in last place and first in line for Division II relegation. 

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