After conquering 15 teams each, the Team No Joshua Lat and Team Alaesports snatched the gold in the DOTA (Defense of the Ancients) 2 and LoL (League of Legends) challenge respectively during the recently concluded 55th Foundation week held at MB 510, Feb. 14-16.
Team No Joshua Lat was an all-male team composed of Grade 10 student Alfonso Maralit, 4th year BS-IT student Genesis Ravina, and DLSL alumni John Bryan Rosales, John Kjell Reynante and Jafet Rae Ocampo.
Meanwhile, Team Alaesports was a pool of Grade 11 students namely Genesis Miranda, Lawrence Adrian Rosales, Gabriel Martinez, Kyle Receno and Jae Robert Lipat.
In a best-of-three round, Team No Joshua Lat outscored Team Joshua Adonis Lat, claiming the DOTA 2 championship title, 2-0.
According to Team No Joshua Lat member Genesis Ravina, their team name was such because he was supposed to play with Joshua Lat, but was removed from the latter’s team.
“Inalis [nila] ako [sa team nila]. Edi ayun, bumuo kami ng bago,” Ravina said.
Trailing on the third and fourth place were Team CITE Fighter and CITE Team Pro.
Similarly, Team Alaesports secured their throne when they maintained their winning streak and left Team Trius Archer with no game point in the LoL finals.
Team Undecided and Team Mas Mataas sa Magtaas were recognized as the 2nd and 3rd runner-ups, respectively.
According to Karl Nico Lu, Project Head and a 4th year BS Computer Science student intern in the Information Communications and Technology Center (ICTC), the event was an idea of DLSL President and Chancellor Br. Dante Jose F. Amisola, FSC.
He also said that it served as an avenue to showcase the capacity of the newly-improved internet connection in regard to the digital campus initiatives of the school.
“May 6-8 teams kaming nagco-compete nang simultaneous per hour. No lag, no internet connection problems. I believe kaya pa naming dagdagan yun. The problem is, isa lang ang venue natin and at the same time yung equipment madami ang naging problema,” Lu said.
“With this demonstration in eSports, at least naipakita natin sa students na yung internet natin hindi mabagal and at the same time lahat sila nag-enjoy,” he added.
Meanwhile, Genesis Miranda, team captain of Alaesports, explained the benefits of playing eSports.
“People should stop na i-stereotype ang eSports or playing video games generally na distraction lang sa studies kasi hindi naman talaga ‘yun totoo. Nasa tao rin lang talaga yun. Maraming magagandang bagay din ang pwedeng ma-develop dito gaya na lamang ng team work and strategy among ourselves at marami pang iba,” he said.
Alfonso Maralit, team captain of No Joshua Lat, said that the tournament should be a regular activity during Foundation week.
“Sa tingin ko okay na maging official activity na ang eSports ng fair kasi madami din po talaga ang may gusto at natutuwa,” he said.
The event was open to DLSL Grade 7 to college students, alumni and employees. However, only the first 16 teams who pre-registered and paid the entrance fee were accommodated per game. Professional eSport players were also prohibited to participate to give way for casual players.
An entrance fee of P1,000 was collected from each participating team that served as the revolving fund of the tournament. Cash prizes of P6,000 for first place, P3,000 for the second placer, and P2,000 for both third and fourth placer were awarded for each game.
Additional in-game cash prizes from Garena, the company that regulates LoL servers in the Philippines, were received by the participating teams in the LoL tournament.
It was the second time that eSports were officially integrated in school activities. The first time was during the Lasallian Cup last October.
