WESG 2017 kicked off the previous era of PH esports
Last year, TNC Pro Team went down in history as the first all-Filipino Dota 2 squad to achieve a golden finish in a global premier tournament. They bested 24 of the world’s best Dota 2 teams in the World Electronic Sports Games 2016 to walk away with the Dota 2 grand championship title and $800,000 prize money–the most any Filipino team has ever won in esports.
READ: TNC Pro Team Makes History Again At WESG 2016
As the WESG returns this year, the Philippines will unfortunately have to defend their title without itsthe reigning champions, TNC Pro Team. The dream of being crowned the world’s best Dota 2 team once more now lies on a Filipino Dota 2 staple, HappyFeet, but the job is not as easy as it sounds.
Before edging out Cloud9 in the grand finals of the WESG 2016, TNC Pro Team had already been on top of headlines after upsetting tournament favorites OG in The International 2016, the biggest annual Dota 2 championship. Despite achieving the two different feats with two different line-ups, the amount of momentum TNC Pro Team gained from having a good The International run was undeniably carried over to their WESG 2016 Grand Final campaign.
HappyFeet, on the other hand, will be coming into the WESG 2017 Grand Finals from a dry spell. Aside from securing podium finishes at minor tournaments, the JessieVash-led squad has yet to achieve a significant feat which can help boost their confidence for a successful title run.
Another factor to consider is the instability of HappyFeet’s roster. HappyFeet will be competing in the WESG 2017 Grand Finals with an untested roster featuring Andrei “Skemberlu” Ong, Julius “Julz” Sto. Domingo, Raphael “Rappy” Palo, Prieme “Playhard” Banquil, and Jessie “JessieVash” Cuyco. This HappyFeet roster was different from their current roster as well as the one that qualified during the WESG 2017 Asia Pacific Finals.
This was also the case for TNC Pro Team since the roster they sported at the WESG 2016 APAC Finals was different from their WESG 2016 Grand Finals roster. However, TNC Pro Team’s WESG 2016 Grand Finals roster, which was composed of Marc “Raven” Fausto, Carlo “Kuku” Palad, Samson “Sam_H” Hidalgo, Timothy “Tims” Randrup, and Ryo “ryOr” Hasegawa, was undeniably older and more experienced than HappyFeet’s three-day old WESG 2017 Grand Finals roster.
Despite the gap in TNC Pro Team’s and HappyFeet’s strengths, there are still some who believe that the Philippines has a solid shot at defending their WESG Dota 2 title. This is primarily because of the tournament’s unique format wherein teams are only allowed to join if their line-up is comprised of players with the same nationality.
During a brief down time in the Captain’s Draft 4.0, the talents initiated an impromptu Question and Answer wherein a fan asked which team will win in a Dota 2 match if all teams are composed of players from the same country. Andrew “Zyori” Campbell cited how China is always the most represented country especially in The International tournaments, but Jack “KBBQ” Chen voted for the Philippines.
KBBQ mentioned how in the professional Dota 2 scene, the best teams are almost always comprised of mixed nationalities. This makes Philippine-based teams a cut above other WESG contenders since Dota squads like TNC Pro Team, HappyFeet, and Entity Gaming, have all been competing under one nationality since their conception.
Let’s not forget that HappyFeet, despite being less popular than TNC Pro Team, still has their own unique way of playing Dota. Before being a consistent contender in Southeast Asia, HappyFeet was one of the main contributors to the foundation of Filipino Dota which can be dated way back during the golden days of WC3 DotA.
After a day at the WESG 2017 Dota 2 Grand Finals, the three-day old, all-Filipino roster of HappyFeet, so far, is successful in defending the Philippines’ Dota 2 grand championship title. They were through the second phase of the group stages after clinching the second seed in their group on top of a vintage Shadow Fiend performance from The G.O.A.T. himself Julz.
The fate of HappyFeet and the endangered Philippine Dota 2 grand championship title will be determined in the following days as the WESG 2017 Grand Finals continues. If they happen to stop some of the tournament favorites like China’s EHOME and Team Russia, which is composed of four Virtus.pro players, the Dota 2 grand championship title will surely remain in the Philippines.
