Globe Philippine Pro Gaming League Tekken 7 Season 2 The Grand Finals: AK wins back-to-back Championships

gstep

Wednesday, August 22, 2018
4:00 pm

| FIGHTING GAMES

Our full Rundown of PPGL and Brawlfest Versus Arena

SM North Edsa was rocked this past weekend as the Philippine Fighting Game Community came together for Brawlfest Versus Arena (BVA). Over seven games were showcased during the event, the highlight of which was the Globe Philippine Pro Gaming League Season 2 – Tekken 7 grand finals.

Blazblue Cross Tag: New game, New names.

With a whopping 64-man bracket, Blazblue Cross Tag Battle’s inaugural tournament came down to two Laguna natives, Jonas “Nas” Calugdan taking on Robert “Insan” Andrada. To those unfamiliar with the Philippine anime fighting game community, Insan is touted as one of the local gods, having won multiple events in and out of the country, specifically in Blazblue.

Nas on the other hand comes from a background of playing different games, most notably Tekken and Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite. BBTAG is his first foray into the genre of anime fighting games.

Insan was sent to the loser’s bracket early on after a huge upset in the hands of Miguel “Alpha MJB” Bautista. He had to claw his way back to the grand finals, running a gauntlet through several of the community’s best players.

Insan’s journey to the top spot however would never be completed. Nas’ highly defensive play style with Nu13 and Jin ended up overwhelming the original Blazblue savant. Along with the annoying keep away, there were several instances in grand finals where Insan went too aggressive with the reversals which cost him dearly. In the end Nas won against Insan after an intense bout, proving that in new games, everyone has a shot at being the champion.

Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite: Old Gods Clash

The grand finals for Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite came down to two familiar faces, North Mall’s Peter “Papable Peter” Chua and Anton Castilla. The two had previously met last year at the Electronic Sports and Gaming Summit (ESGS), where Anton beat Peter quite convincingly to take the gold. Heading into BVA, Peter was hoping that third time’s the charm and he would finally get one over Anton.

Unfortunately, their bout in the grand finals proved nearly identical to their past encounter. Anton’s team of Jedah and Rocket Racoon together with the Space Stone proved to be too strong. Peter was unable to defend against most of Anton’s set play with Rocket’s traps and Jedah’s strong wake up pressure. The grand finals match ended 3-1 in favor of Anton.

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U: Monkey Business

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U grand finals came down to an ape-off between Playbook Esports Justin “Cheese” Labad on Diddy Kong and Smash Bunker’s Luke “Regerets” Garcia on Donkey Kong. Their set was intense to say the least and came down to the wire with two games apiece.

During the last stock for both players in game three, something unusual happened. For some reason Cheese failed to recover to the ledge, causing a self-destruct and ending the grand finals on a rather low note.

It is still unknown whether it was a controller problem or a weird property with Diddy’s move that caused it. Anti-climactic as it may be, a win is a win and Regerets took the set to finally win the Championship.

Playbook Wins Big

Without a doubt, Playbook was the biggest winner of BVA, with their players claiming championships in four different titles.

It started off with Mark Anthony “Noob” Casing, who won Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 during day two. He was sent early on to the losers’ bracket by his teammate Ry “NiteRAId” Dael whom he faced during the grand finals. Noob won the grand finals cleanly with a 6-0 sweep, just another day for the country’s best Guilty Gear player.

On day three Noob proved his mettle once again in Dragon Ball FighterZ, this time besting MVCI Finalist Papable Peter with another clean 3-0 sweep.

In Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, Don Gim continued to reign supreme, beating out VIP’s JR and his Guile with a 3-0 of his own, including a sudden Raging Demon in game two.

Globe Philippine Pro Gaming League Tekken 7 Season Two: The Grand Finals

Day three of BVA culminated in the Globe PPGL season two Tekken 7 grand finals top 8. The entire audience focused on screen as the regional representatives duked it out to see just who was the best in the country.

The Showdown: Wong vs Weakling

Probably the most anticipated match in the tournament, the first round bout between Neil Kenneth “Wong” Uy and Elite’s Paul “Weakling” Abigan had a lot of hype going into the event, forming a rivalry of sorts since PPGL season one.

The entire set was pretty one-sided however, and In the end, Weakling proved to be the better player, finishing the set three games to one and settling the score once and for all.

In the Clutch: Vermilion vs PBE Doujin

How a fighting game player performs when it comes to seemingly impossible odds are what separates the average fighter from the top dogs. Going up against adversity and coming out the victor is what fighting game hype is all about.

During the upper bracket match between Playbook Esports Andreij “Doujin” Albar and Raphael “Vermilion” Cueva, Vermilion found himself at a startling life deficit in round three of the last game. Doujin had already won the two rounds prior. All he needed was one hit on Vermilion to advance forward in the tournament. Vermilion however refused to back down.

Seeing Doujin whiff a move, Vermilion caught him with a quick electric uppercut. Vermilion managed to convert the hit into a highly damaging combo. It was enough to take out Doujin who was still almost at half life, sealing what might very well be the best comeback of the night.

Hypest match of the Night: Mawts vs Wong

The match between Wong and Baguio Qualifier Martin “Mawts” Veerayah was probably the closest fight of the night. With the set tied to two games apiece, the final match started off with a spectacular Double K.O., the only one during the entire night. The fight only picked up on intensity as it progressed.

In the final round, Wong managed to find the gap in Mawts’ offence, finishing the game and sealing it off with the classic 1-1-2.

The Runback: Doujin vs AK

In a repeat of last season, the Globe PPGL season two Tekken 7 grand finals once again came down to the two Tekken gods of Playbook Esports: Andreij “Doujin” Albar and Alexandre “AK” Laverez. Doujin went to the Evolution World Championsips this month in Las Vegas and managed to win the 64-Man wildcard qualifier at BVA to secure a spot in the PPGL Tekken 7 top 8. Many were expecting that things would be closer this time around compared to last season.

However it seemed that experience at the world’s biggest stage still wasn’t enough to beat AK. The original Philippine Tekken Wunderkind went on a rampage, taking grand finals with a very convincing 3 game sweep and becoming PPGL’s back-to-back champion for Tekken 7.