The League of Legends: Wild Rift esports scene is beginning to take shape.
Riot Games Southeast Asia unveiled on Thursday, February 4, the Southeast Asia Icon Series: Preseason, a five weekend-long regional tournament for its mobile MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) game that has the Philippines as one of the seven regions.
"The Southeast Asia Icon Series is our first step to grow League of Legends: Wild Rift into a regional esport worthy of our players' passion and skill," said Chris Tran, head of esports for Riot Games Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Team Secret, a premier global esports organization popularly known for its Dota 2 team, decided to go for a Filipino Wild Rift squad and got a direct invite to play in the Philippine leg along with Bren Esports and RRQ PH.
The full list of participating teams will be announced at a later date, with the tournament that will be hosted by Mineski-Philipine Pro Gaming League (PPGL) set on March 20 to 21.
Team Secret PH has yet to reveal its Wild Rift roster that will be led by its first recruit James "Hamez" Santos, one of the top global players and former LoL professional.
On the other hand, Bren is currently building its Wild Rift team with coach Ralph Andrei "Leathergoods" Llabres leading the recruitment.
Apart from the Philippines, six other countries in Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore were chosen to hold a preseason tourney.
After the preseason, teams will have a chance to join the Wild Rift Southeast Asia Icon Series: Summer Season, an eight week-long tilt that will put the regional title at stake.
"We want our fans to feel proud of the local talent who will represent the region in the Wild Rift Southeast Asia Icon series," said Tran, who thanked Riot's partner hosts Mineski-PPGL (Philippines), VNG (Vietnam), ESL Asia (Malaysia and Thailand), One Up (Indonesia) and Eliphant (Singapore).
"We hope that teams and fans alike will enjoy this tailored experience of high-stakes Wild Rift competition."