A UST team whose name suggests inferiority topped the first-ever intercollegiate Dota 2 competition in the Philippines.
Team “Kangkong” defeated Ateneo de Manila University’s ADMU Saltstack in a best-of-five finals of Impetus 2017 at the TNC High Grounds Café in Tomas Morato last June 25. UST finished with a perfect 9-0 tournament record.
“Nagulat kami na kami ‘yung nag-champion,” UST team captain Eugene Cabangon said in an online interview.
“’Di namin expected kasi madaming teams ang kasali and alam namin na they’re stronger than us.”
Impetus was organized by the University of the Philippines Gaming Guild (UPGG). The organization initially planned to establish an eSports league in the Diliman-Katipunan area with the University of the Philippines, Ateneo and Miriam College as initial members.
A partnership with Thenet.com (TNC) Esports and Acer Predator paved the way for all UAAP eight schools to participate.
UPGG held qualifying tournaments from March to May to determine each school’s representative team.
Dota 2 is a strategic, multiplayer online battle arena video game developed by Valve Corporation and a sequel franchise to the Defense of the Ancients or Dota. It is one of the most popular online games in the country.
UST Kangkong consists of fourth-year computer science students Cabangon (midlaner) and Charles Balagot (support player); third-year information technology students Ivan Wenceslao (support players) and Jose Alberto (offlaner); and third-year biology student Mike de los Santos (carry).
