Pacific Underdog World Cup Previews: Philippines

Team Philippines coach Daks freely admits that “the team doesn’t expect much in terms of placing in this year’s World Cup”. And many would regard the Philippines as a long-shot to even make it to the groups. However, what the team aims to achieve at BlizzCon is to put the archipelago on the map.

“We want to show everyone that we are looking to be competitive in the region and the rest of the world.”

While the Philippines haven’t reached the Overwatch League stage quite yet, they have started to climb the Path to Pro. Off-tank player for the national team, Grandeesauto , made his way through Open Division and onto the Contenders Pacific stage last season. He played for Nam-E Fighters, which later renamed to Far East Society. Even though he was on the Lucio skates for the Pacific team, it doesn’t mean he is any slouch on the newest hero in the game.

While Grandeesauto has proved his capabilities in Contenders, the rest of the team are also ready to rise up the ranks. Main tank Fascinate is the brain behind the team, setting up the team fights and calling targets for the team to follow up on. It is not his first rodeo representing the national team, having played for team Philippines in 2016 during the online qualifiers. DPS Billy and Redux are also able to pop off if a hot streak comes their way.

Team Philippines has teamed up with Bren Esports for this season of the World Cup, which also fulfills another goal set out by the team: to attract local organizations to support the Overwatch scene. Following the drought of tournaments during the pre-Overwatch League era, many high profile organizations pulled out of Overwatch. One of those was Mineski, largely regarded to be one of the largest Southeast Asian esports organizations. But when one door closes, another one opens.

“The [World Cup] team is here to set a foundation for our country: to be the pioneers, to set things off yet again and reignite the scene for even more competition.”

To usher in a new renaissance for the local scene is what Daks and the rest of Team Philippines aims to achieve at this BlizzCon.