Philippine Dota 2 Scene: Where Did It All Start?

The Philippine DoTA 2 scene

We all know now that the Philippine Esports scene is now growing, especially in the DoTA2 scene. Wherein the latest teams like, TnC, Mineski, Execration. Where are many others have started to leave a mark on the global competitive scene. But when and where did it all start? When I say, “where did it all start”, I mean, where did it start catching the attention of the global DoTA2 scene? As far as I can recall, it all started with the team called “Rave.” Rave was a South Korea based team. Its original squad consisted of then unknown players such as Mark “Cast” Pilar, Ryo “RyOr” Hasegawa, Djardel “Chrissy” Mampusti (currently known as “Dj”), and Michael “Ninjaboogie” Ross Jr. to complete the squad.

The Summit 3

Team captain “Cast” decided to Steam message NA DoTA2 star and Veteran Jio “Jeyo” Madayag. With the team now complete, they started competing at various tournaments. They started to gain attention when they were able to participate at The Summit 3. There they were able to place 7th-8th place, earning $6,792. But the team really gained attention when they received an invite and were able to compete at the Dota2 Asia Championships 2015.

Many thought that team Rave was going to fall out of the tournament faster than they arrived. But they proved a lot of people wrong when they were able to reach 5th-6th place. But before that result, Team Rave was able to place 12th in the group stages with a standing of 5 wins and 10 losses. They had to play tiebreakers for the following day. They were able to advance through the tiebreakers and into the loser’s bracket. There they got to topple two of the biggest teams in the DoTA2 scene such as HellRaisers and crowd favorites Invictus Gaming. Then after they took over the mighty team known as Big God.

Who is Team Big God?

Team Big God consists of five legends from the Chinese DoTA2 scene. namely Xu “BurNIng” Zhilei, Zhang “xiao8” Ning, Bai “rOtk” Fan, Zhang “LaNm” Zhicheng, and Li “iceice” Peng..

So it wasn’t a surprise that Rave would eventually fall to them. But surely enough Team Rave made a huge statement that says Pinoy DoTA IS a force to be reckoned. And it was further proved when another Philippine DoTA2 squad named TnC was able to pull off the largest upset in DoTA2 history. They eliminated the heavily favored squad of Team OG in the recent TI6 and placing 7th-8th and taking home $519,262. And again by placing 1st through defeating the Danish squad “Cloud9” in the finals of the WESG 2016 and taking home the Grand prize money of $800,000.

And now, thanks to those who never gave up in the beginning, to those who persevered through the trials and hardships, to those who wanted to make their fellow countrymen proud, and to those who wanted to bring pride and honor to the Philippines, and paved the way for aspiring Filipino players to chase their dreams, we thank you! From the bottom of our sincere hearts, thank you for opening the gates of the competitive scene to us. Thank you for playing your hearts out. Thank you for showing the whole world that Philippine DoTA IS great DoTA! We promise to support you at every game you play. No matter what results, we will always be proud!

Where is the Philippine scene now?

The Philippine scene is headed in a great direction! As a proof that it is moving forward, two prestigious tournaments have already been held in the country. One of the tournaments that have been held here is ESL One Manila with a prize pool of $250,000 USD. The tournament has crowned Chinese powerhouse “Wings Gaming” as its champion. The other tournament that has already been held was the Manila Major (also known as the Spring Major). It had a prize pool of $3,000,000 USD and it crowned Swedish Super team OG as its champion.

And there is another prestigious event that is yet to be held in the country, the even is called “Manila Masters” which has a prize pool of $250,000 USD and has invited some of the best DoTA2 teams in the world. We’re all excited to see our idols of the game. We also want to see which team will be the next crowned champion in Manila.