Taiwan Excellence’s 2019 eSports Cup in the Philippines has been a tremendous success as thousands of people came to witness the Grand Finals held from October 4 to 5. The first day saw head on battles on CS:GO while the second day was an intense competition for LOL gamers.
Bren Esports rose as victors in the CS:GO tournament, taking home the grand prize of P56,000 in cash. Each team member also took home an Asus ROG Delta Headset, ROG Collection Shirt, ROG Armor Suite Backpack, and P2,000 worth of Sodexo Gift Certificates. In a short speech, the captain of Bren Esports expressed the team’s collective sentiment about their victory, “We’re very happy about winning. I think we deserve this because we worked hard for this.”
Apart from these take home prizes, Bren Esports also received the good news of going overseas to compete against other Taiwan Excellence eSports Cup winners from Malaysia, Thailand, India, and Taiwan. The team promised to “practice more in preparation for our upcoming matches abroad.”
Teams Fallen5, WIMAX, and Station 751 got the second, third, and fourth places in the CS:GO competition, respectively.
Meanwhile, the October 5 event that highlighted the LOL tournament announced CX Blanc as the grand champion. The team also took home a cash prize of P56,000 plus Asus ROG Delta Headset, ROG Collection Shirt, ROG Armor Suite Backpack, and P2,000 worth for Sodexo Gift Certificates for each of the members.
Teams PlayLoud, Ruyal, and Archeous were announced runners-up in the LOL tournament.
After the games were concluded on the 2-part event, a Cosplay competition went down on October 6 that featured Filipino costume artists who vied for a whopping P40,000 grand prize. Thirty contestants were judged by video content creator Kang Dupet, representatives from TAITRA and cosplayer, and game streamer.
Participants showed their artistic creations of CS:GO- and LoL-inspired costumes. Izaiah Luke Buelos was hailed winner while Sergio Sta. Ana and Nicholai Dizon were announced runners-up, taking home P20,000 and P10,000, respectively.
The event was hosted by athlete, TV personality, and also an avid gamer himself, Eric “Eruption” Tai. The opening event was filled with special guests and personalities including Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) Director Mr. Wen Chun-Chang, Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) Director Mr. Clement Chen, Upeepz Dance Crew, pop rock band GraceNote, and celebrity cosplayer Myrtle Sarrosa.
The event also served a small expo for gamers where free-for-all brand booths were set up. Devices like Asus Republic of Gamers’ ROG Zephyrus S (the world’s lightest and thinnest gaming laptop), the Gigabyte Z390 Aorus WaterForce Xtreme motherboard, Aorus memory cards and video cards, AVerMedia’s plug-and-play AM310 USB microphone and Live Streamer Cam 313, InWin’s WINBOT Limited Edition Transparent Spherical case, Kingmax Semiconductor, memory cards and external portable SSDs from Transcend and T Force, Zyxel’s tri-band Wi-Fi system, and peripherals from XPG, Zadak, and G.Skill were all featured in the booths.
Ten units of gaming desktops were also installed at the Product Experience Zone for guests to try “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO)” and “League of Legends. “
The 2019 eSports Cup serves as the biggest esports tournament in the Philippine history with a total prize pool of P430,000. Event-goers were also given a chance to win special treats from Shopping List, Guess Whose Logo, and Scavenger List games.
Before the grand finals events, eSports cup held elimination rounds in July for CSGO and in August for LOL. Meanwhile, the inter-branch games happened on September 14 for CSGO and September 24 for LOL.
The 2019 Taiwan Excellence eSports Cup was a product of combined efforts by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) and Taiwan’s Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT). Once only played in neighborhood cybercafes, eSports has continually become a mainstream sport in the Philippines. Furthermore, this event serves as a preparation for the upcoming SEA Games where, for the first time in history, includes eSports as an official medal event.
