Heinrich shares the state of competitive Dota 2 in Visayas
It was at the inaugural Electronic Sports and Gaming Summit (ESGS) in 2014 when a Cebu-based Dota 2 team finally rose from the shadows of the reigning Manileños. Arcanys Gaming, which was believed to be Visayas’ finest, became the Philippines’ best after getting crowned as the grand champions of the MPGL VI Philippine Dota 2 Finals.
The success of Arcanys Gaming in the Philippine Dota 2 scene paved way for the recognition of Visayan talents like Michael “ninjaboogie” Ross, Jun “Bokerino” Kanehara, Marvin “Boombacs” Rushton, and Heinrich Don “Heinrich” Abad. Unfortunately, when the MPGL came to its final season in 2016, the competitive Dota 2 players of Visayas only had limited tournaments wherein they can exhibit to the entire nation their own brand of Dota.
“The lack of national tournaments forced Visayas’ up-and-coming teams to repeatedly play against their local counterparts. It’s a big hindrance to the development of the Philippine Dota 2 scene at large,” Heinrich stated.
Heinrich was Arcanys Gaming’s mid laner during their monumental victory at the MPGL VI Dota 2 Philippine Finals. He announced his retirement from professional Dota 2 in 2015 but returned to action with his new team, Station 751, when the Globe PPGL 2018, a nationwide esports tournament which features three major esports titles across multiple gaming platforms, visited Cebu for its Dota 2 qualifiers.
“We knew that the Globe PPGL 2018 will give us the opportunity and experience to compete against the Philippines’ best up-and-coming teams. That’s why we’re also thankful for this, especially since the MPGL was gone,” he said.
Station 751 is a team composed of Heinrich and his friends who he wanted to groom as the country’s next Dota 2 stars. Aside from the fulfillment of this goal, Heinrich had an ultimate purpose for joining the Globe PPGL 2018: to take Cebu back on top of the Philippine Dota 2 scene.
Despite being led by a former MPGL champion, Station 751’s journey to the Globe PPGL 2018 online playoffs was never easy. According to Heinrich, even though there is a lack of nationwide tournaments, the competitive Dota 2 scene in Visayas remained active, “in Cebu, all teams have a chance to beat each other. The players here are individually strong.”
The Cebuano veteran even recalled a specific match in the qualifiers against a certain team named Voyager which executed an eccentric play style focused on shutting down their early game. Station 751’s team fight-centric draft got nullified for a while but fortunately for them, they found a way back into the game by patiently picking off their opponents one by one.
“Most of the play styles here are based on what they see from international teams and they just try to apply it to their own teams. That is also why tournament results here are somehow predictable,” Heinrich shared.
Although there are still some players who would still opt for the rather outdated four-protect-one strategy, most Visayan Dota 2 teams are already aware of the importance and potential of a team-based line-up. This somehow lessens the flashiness of their individual plays, but gives in return an entertaining, yet accurate, skill execution.
“Razor, for example, is a hero commonly banned here because of being objective-based in nature. He’s a bit slow on farm but he can contribute a lot in team plays even with just basic items like Drum of Endurance and Ring of Aquila,” Heinrich explained.
Station 751 almost made it to the Globe PPGL 2018 main event if not for the Raging-_-Potato-led squad, TaskUs Titans, which swept them, 3-0, in the online playoffs. Heinrich commended the better team fight prowess executed by the Titans but reiterated that he is 100% confident about their chance.
“We were forced to adjust our game plan because our original offlaner failed to join us due to personal reasons. He was a vital point in our strategies but his unavailability forced us to just react to Titans’ draft,” Heinrich explained.
Despite Heinrich’s first attempt to bring Cebu back to the top of Philippine Dota leading to naught, he still holds on to the potential of Visayan Dota 2 teams, “I believe that there are Visayan teams which can make it to the top. We just need more nationwide tournaments to give Visayan contenders more experience.”
Ultimately, Heinrich gave assurance that the development of Visayas teams will be action-packed, especially now that he’s considering his return to the professional Dota 2 scene.
Follow our ongoing coverage of Globe PPGL 2018 through these links:
* Tournament Info: mineski.net/events/globe-ppgl-2018
* Like the PPGL Page: facebook.com/ppglgg
