Sibol squads conquer Asia IESF Qualifiers

MANILA — Sibol's Mobile Legends Bang Bang and Dota2 teams have come out on top of the International Esports Federation's (IESF) World Esports Championship (WEC) Asia qualifiers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 

Both teams finished as the top team in the region, taking home a prize pool of $7,000 each (approximately P380,000) and qualifying to the 15th WEC happening in Iasi, Romania in August.

The Mobile Legends Bang Bang team, powered by players and coaches under AP Bren Esports, had a flawless run, winning all their matches from group stages until they swept tournament favorite Mongolia in the Grand Finals, 3-0. The Southeast Asian games gold medalists only dropped one game against Mongolia as well during the upper bracket finals.

Meanwhile, it wasn't the same smooth-sailing journey for their comrades in the Dota2 team, which suffered a 0-2 defeat against Myanmar in the upper bracket finals. The Myanmar team saw a perfect 3-0 run as well during the group stages and was considered the team to beat in the regional qualifiers.

Knowing what was on the line, the Dota2 team found new ground and secured a morale-boosting win over Mongolia, 2-0, in the lower bracket finals to set up a rematch against Myanmar. 

Sibol learned from its initial mistakes, and the Filipino team dominated late in the 45-minute Game 1, 29-21. The momentum continued even as Game 2 seemed to reach the 50-minute mark, but Sibol secured payback against Myanmar with a 2-0 sweep.

The wins of Sibol’s Mobile Legends and Dota2 secured the Philippines’ national esports squad participation in all of the games they had set out to compete in, including tournaments for Tekken 7 and PUBG Mobile last May.