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Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Esports devider Filipina MLBB teams shine as PH bets in Dota 2, Valorant, HoK fall in EWC

Filipina MLBB teams shine as PH bets in Dota 2, Valorant, HoK fall in EWC

Published Jul 16, 2025 11:58 am  |  Updated Jul 16, 2025 01:34 pm

At A Glance

  • The Philippine representatives in the women's Mobile Legends: Bang Bang event were off to a winning start while Filipino players in other esports titles Dota 2, Valorant and Honor of Kings fell one after another in the ongoing Esports World Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Natus Vincere PH Photo
Natus Vincere PH Photo
The Philippine representatives in the women's Mobile Legends: Bang Bang event were off to a winning start while Filipino players in other esports titles Dota 2, Valorant and Honor of Kings fell one after another in the ongoing Esports World Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Team Liquid PH and Natus Vincere PH both cruised to a sweet 2-0 sweep of their respective opponents to advance to the upper bracket finals of their groups in the 2025 MLBB Women's Invitational.
Rica "Amoree" Amores shone bright for NAVI PH, highlighted by an impressive 7-0-16 KDA total through the two games against Cambodia’s CFU Gaming in the Group C action.
Likewise, TLPH ran roughshod in Group B, hardly breaking a sweat in dispatching China’s Tidal Legends.
As impressive were the starts for the Filipina teams in MLBB, the same could not be said for the country’s Honor of Kings representatives Boom Esports and Blacklist International in the HOK World Cup 2025.
The Agents found little answer to the sustained aggression of Hong Kong’s Paw Gaming and succumbed to a 0-2 defeat in their first game of the tournament.
Also off to a rough start was Philippine Kings League champion Boom Esports which fell short with a 1-2 loss to MENA qualifier Gen.G Esports.
With their loss, the two PH teams will then figure in a do-or-die match for a chance to continue their journey through the Last Chance Qualifier.
In DOTA 2, all-Filipino team Execration suffered a 0-2 defeat against Asian Champions League winner Xtreme Gaming in the elimination phase. Execration actually finished the group play fourth with a 0-1-2 record.
It opened the tournament with a 1-1 draw against Team Falcons before sustaining back-to-back 0-2 defeats to Gaimin Gladiators and BetBoom Team.
Even other Filipino players in other squads failed to go deep in competition with the Shopify Rebellion of Andrei “Skem” Ong and Erin Jasper “Yopaj” Ferrer also getting the boot in the first round of the eliminations following a 0-2 loss to Team Tandex.
Carlo “Kuku” Palad’s Talon Esports did reach the second round after taking down Heroic with 2-0 win despite coming out of the group stage with a 0-2-1 record. His team, however, was quickly stopped on its track in the second round of the elimination phase after absorbing a 0-2 drubbing at the hands of Tundra Esports.
The most successful Filipino perhaps in the competition so far was Patrick “Patmen” Mendoza in Valorant. His Paper Rex went as far as semifinals but settled for fourth after losing to South Korean powerhouse Gen. G Esports, 0-2, in the battle for third.
Paper Rex topped Group A with a 2-0 record in the pool play and then took down Sentinel, 2-0 in the quarterfinals. PatMen and his team, however, couldn’t sustain the hot start it had against Fnatic, dropping a 1-2 loss in the semis.
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