Neon Esports battered direct invite BOOM Esports of Indonesia, 2-0, for a flying debut in the upper division of the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC)-Southeast Asia Regional League on Wednesday night.
Soft support Andrei "debil_2000" Ong (popularly known as Skem) took charge for the qualified Filipino squad with his Mirana in Game 1 while it was midlaner Erin Jasper "Yopaj" Ferrer who starred with his Queen of Pain in Game 2.
Neon, which is fresh off a successful run in the Moon Studio Kagura Championships where it won $6,400 (more than P300,000), got a share of the early lead with Fnatic.
Filipino carry Polo "Raven" Fausto steered Fnatic to a 2-0 beating of T1 Entertainment & Sports in the league opener earlier.
Skem was on-point with his Mirana in Game 1, hitting Sacred Arrows with high accuracy to power Neon's 27-17 victory in 33 minutes.
Skem scored 10 kills and 13 assists against a lone death while aiding midlaner Yopaj's Storm Spirit in getting nine kills and 15 assists against one death.
Yopaj went berserk with his Queen of Pain in Game 2 as he racked up 20 kills and 20 assists against a single death in a 44-15 stomp.
With Yopaj's fearsome QOP leading the charge, Neon annihilated BOOM in almost all team fights and forced the Indonesian side to call the GG in the 45th minute.
Former Adroit Esports standout and SEA Games gold-winning carry John Anthony "Natsumi-" Vargas' Riki also ably fulfilled his role as he tallied 10 kills and 17 assists with three deaths.
Neon will next square off against 496 Gaming of Vietnam on Friday following the tussle between Filipino teams TNC Predator and Execration.