Sibol DOTA 2 team couldn’t capitalize on its advantage in the Grand Finals, falling to the hands of host Indonesia, 3-2, in the Grand Finals to settle for a silver medal finish in the IESF World Esports Championships in Bali, Indonesia on Saturday, Dec 10.

Armed with a one game bonus in the best-of-five affair – an incentive it got for reaching the finale through the upper bracket, the Filipinos looked poised to take the victory in the series but couldn’t get the job done against the hometown bets.
Indonesia banked on its solid chain stun combos to set the tone in the series, immediately scoring the equalizer in Game 2 behind a rousing 51-19 victory. Rafli “Mikoto” Rahman and Matthew “Whitemon” Filemon proved to be the biggest thorn to the side of the Filipinos in the series opener.
Mikoto finished with a 20-3-18 KDA on the Ember Spirit while Whitemon set the pace with a 7-8-22 line on his Mirana.
The Filipinos managed to regain foothold and adapt to the Indonesian’s play style to build a lead that went to as high as 17k. Indonesia though still threatened for a comeback but was denied by Sibol led by Eljohn “Akashi” Andales on the Terrorblade to take a 2-1 series lead.
Needing only a victory to secure the gold medal, the Filipinos stumbled to pressure in the last two games. Indonesia secured the equalizing Game 4 with a swift 26-19 and forced a sudden death.
The Filipinos actually held the lead in the early game but couldn’t keep their grip as Mikoto completed a clutch Aegis steal during the 35th minute Roshan fight. It was all Indonesia from there as it claimed the gold medal with a come-from-behind 34-28 victory in Game 5.