The Heroes Uprising 2017 Tournament culminated in the Grand Finals last July 29. Hosted in High Grounds Cafe, Mineski-Overwatch dominated the competition. Consisting of captain Justin “Caladbolg” Limbo, Jerahmeel “Jorun” Ibasco, Marvin Anthony “whome” Roque, John Carlo “SuperLocs” Panlilo, Angelo “Meister” Martinez, and Gilbert “Gibo” Sales, they outplayed their opponents and took home the top spot. Going through Bonus Round, Blast Knights, Sapnu Puas, and finally, Blast Vikings, Mineski never dropped a single match. The team remained undefeated throughout the tournament.
Even as Mineski swept their matches on their way to victory, the games were all fierce and full of intense Overwatch action. Doomfist, the newest hero released in Overwatch, was banned from tournament play. As such, the most popular lineups used were the in-meta dive composition (fast and mobile threat) and the older deathball lineup (slow and anchored in a group). The crowd at the event screamed and cheered at big plays, multi-kills, and ultimate abilities. There was also a huge interest on the matchup between Sapnu Puas and Blast Vikings, dubbed as the “El Classico” by the casters and viewers.
Both teams had a rivalry stemming from the group stage last week, and again matched up on the main stage. In their first matchup against one another, Sapnu Puas took the series 2–1 through a clutch performance on Temple of Anubis. Sapnu Puas then went on to face and lose to Mineski in the Winner’s Finals, while Blast Vikings had to claw their way through the Loser’s Bracket. The two teams faced each other yet again in the Loser’s Finals, where Blast Vikings turned it to their favor on Dorado. With the series 2–1 in favor of Blast Vikings, they secured their spot in the Grand Finals against Mineski.
The Grand Finals was a best of five series. The first game was on Lijang Tower, which was a heated Control-map matchup. With a point at the center of the map to fight over, Mineski secured the game with a score of 3–1. The key factor of the first game was that Mineski got the clutch kill in the last two rounds. In both rounds this was on Blast Vikings’ Zarya, who was close to having the crowd-controlling ultimate, Graviton Surge, ready.
The second map was Watchpoint: Gibraltar, an Escort map. Both teams were able to push the payload to the last checkpoint, but Blast Vikings had less time due to a great first point defense by Mineski. Mineski preyed on this time difference with Caladbolg running a Sombra pick. Mineski forced Blast Vikings to fight them in a enclosed area near a Sombra-hacked big health pack, which gave them exclusive use of it. The use of this health pack also gave the Sombra enough charge for the ultimate, EMP. Getting the EMP in less than a minute and using it to disable Blast Vikings’ abilities, Mineski secured the defensive hold before the payload could reach the first point. On attack, Mineski only had to kill one member of Blast Vikings to secure the map victory after a short push.
With Mineski leading the series 2–0, they only needed one more win to take the series. The third map was a Hybrid map, Hollywood, which featured a standard point to capture before pushing the payload. On first defense, Blast Vikings pulled out a rare pick- Torbjorn. The turret builder caught the attacking Mineski in surprise, which wasted their valuable time. Still, they overcame the defense, and were able to secure both the point and the succeeding payload push. On their defense, Mineski held against the desperate push the Blast Vikings threw at the first point. With this third map victory, Mineski took the series 3–0. Mineski took home the championship, with Blast Vikings and Sapnu Puas as the first and second runners-up respectively.
In a short Q&A with Mineski captain Caladbolg after the event, he was proud of his and his team’s victory in the tournament. He stated that it still proved that Mineski are “…still the best Overwatch team in the country,” but noted that the other teams were improving as well, at a fast pace. He also noticed the tournament featured a higher level of competition, “…unlike from the previous tournaments where there aren’t many players who’s ranks are at the Master or Grandmaster level. This motivates us (Mineski) to keep improving ourselves.” While he mentioned that an issue they had to contend with was lag due to the rain, it was resolved “… after a few minutes and everything went well after that.”
Heroes United 2017 has set a new standard for both quality and competition in the Philippine Overwatch scene. When asked if Mineski would be willing to join another tournament in the local stage, Caladbolg said “Definitely yes! We will keep joining local tournaments because we can see that the local Overwatch scene is improving.” With such praise for the event, it looks like there will be a resurgence of the Overwatch scene in the country. With this first step, there may be more local tournaments in the future, and a bigger Filipino community for Overwatch in the horizon.