It was an epic finish for the NCAA’s inaugural esports tournament.
Colegio de San Juan de Letran made history last weekend as they crowned themselves as the first ever NCAA esports MLBB champions. The Knights took down the Jose Rizal University Heavy Bombers 3-1, giving them the right to raise NCAA’s inaugural esports trophy.
The playoffs stage was set in the Philippine GameDev Expo at the SMX Convention Center. After weeks of intense online play, six teams would battle it out to see who would come out as champions and win a trip to Thailand Game Show this October. Letran and JRU were entering the playoffs with a bye into the quarter finals making them the tournament favorites.
Both teams ended up encountering each other in the upper bracket finals, with JRU beating Letran 3-1 to take the first grand finals spot. Beaten but undeterred, Letran would break through the Mapua Cardinals to get their revenge on the Heavy Bombers.
With the momentum of a lower bracket finals victory under their belt, Letran only needed to add what they learned from their initial loss to JRU in the upper bracket. With both of those in hand, there was no stopping the Knights from becoming the NCAA Esports MLBB champions.
“Sulit ‘yung pagod ng araw-araw na scrim, araw-araw na laro. Ngayon, sulit lahat ng oras at sakripisyo namin as a team.” said John Marcus Loyola, the Letran Knights’ Jungler. “Unang una, thank you kay God, thank you sa mga teammates ko, at sa lahat ng nagtulong-tulong mag-organize ng NCAA Esports. Sana matuloy pa ito.”
“We’d like to thank everyone who helped make this event possible,” said Stanley Lao, Founder of Collegiate Center for Esports, the organizing partner of the NCAA Season 100: Esports Kick-off. “Matagal na naming pangarap ito para sa mga bata na nangangarap magkaroon ng career sa esports. Basta tuloy lang sila sa pagsikap sa pangarap nila, tuloy lang kami sa pagsuporta.”
Banner photo from NCAA Esports / CCE.
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