After finishing the group stage with a flawless 3-0 record and securing an outright semifinals berth, Viridis Arcus’ League of Legends team swept their Alliance Games S3 Semifinals matchup versus UP’s Oblation Esports (OBE), 2-0, at the SMX Convention Center during Day Two of the CONQuest Festival last June 3. However, they dropped their Finals matchup the next day versus ADMU’s Loyola Gaming (LG), losing the series after a heartstopping three-game series, 2-1.
Representing DLSU were top laner Ryan “Defile” Villanueva, jungler Raffy “Eternal” Chan, mid laner Dustin “Izumi” Tan, bot laner Steb “Carnage” Tabujara, and support Jermyn “Usagi” Moa.
Built for the limelight
Making a tactical start, the team drafted around their rookie bot laner Carnage and his Aphelios in the opening game of their semis. Despite facing a gold deficit against their adversaries from Diliman early on, Carnage delivered when his squad needed him. He anchored the Green and White on the rift with a 7-0-3 kills-deaths-assists tally early on and a near 20-farm lead over his counterpart from UP as DLSU seized momentum after a bot-side skirmish at the 13th minute mark of Game One. VA didn’t look back from that point on, as they secured the first Baron of the game before steamrolling to a 23-minute victory behind their AD Carry’s double-digit takedown.
In contrast to the game prior, Game Two was a slow-burn affair that saw neither team pull away with the momentum to start. OBE managed to take the first Baron after a late rotation to the top side by VA—jumping to a 3,500 gold lead at the 23rd minute. Regardless of the deficit they faced, La Salle’s finest remained relentless, turning the game with two straight teamfight wins to secure Dragon Soul and the first inhibitor of the game. After picking off OBE’s Fadz, VA secured the game’s second Baron to take the crucial second game and send the team from Taft to the Alliance Games S3 Finals.
Crooked arrows
VA was faced with a familiar foe in the Finals, LG—whom they often scrimmage against in preparation for the tournament. The roster from DLSU started the first game of the series on the wrong foot after losing the opening skirmish and handing LG’s Znake an early item lead. La Salle pulled back momentum in the matchup behind the aggressive Lucian-Nami duo of Carnage and Usagi in the midgame—getting a near ace on the team from Katipunan in the 18th minute before gaining a gold lead in Game One and securing their fourth Drake. With the power finally in their hands, VA threatened to take Baron—baiting in ADMU’s representatives. An excellent counterengage by jungler Eternal on his Wukong left Ateneo smiteless, allowing VA to take Baron practically off-spawn.
With the momentum heavily in their favor and a whopping 9,200 gold lead, VA took the Dragon Soul, second Baron, and LG’s bottom-lane inhibitor as they pleased. Not looking back, the five from Taft attempted to pincer their rivals in the top lane but fell victim to the farmed Jinx of Znake—whose quadra kill allowed his side to take the Elder Drake. Ateneo managed to take the two mid turrets of VA with the buff but were wiped out at the 35th minute. VA made a full send on their numbers to their bottom wave, looking to take the opposing nexus. But they were eventually unable to take the opening game of the series after Eternal died in the push. With the Green and White left without their jungler, LG managed to take the game’s third and their first Baron. This swing eventually led to them running away with the victory to go up 1-0 in the series after a rollercoaster 45-minute affair.
Giving it their all
LG drafted two marksmen in Game Two with Znake taking Kog’Maw and good kid opting to bring Tristana to the midlane. With his trademark Zed banned, Izumi responded by going with another AD midlaner in Talon. He stepped up to the challenge by getting six kills and six assists with no deaths by the 23rd minute as VA took the first Baron of La Salle’s do-or-die affair. After taking two of ADMU’s inhibitors, the game was done and dusted as VA took Game Two in a 28-minute stomp.
After being pestered by Eternal’s Wukong all series long, LG decided to take matters into their own hands by drafting it for themselves with the first pick of the Game Three. Faced against the bruiser that had brought his team success throughout the tournament and the weekend at CONQuest, Eternal responded by taking Mao Kai. He commented after the game, “Mao Kai is a counter to Wukong, I was really confident. [LG’s jungler Galatadiff thought] Wukong wins [because when he was on the other side of the matchup] I won, diba?”
VA jumped to an early four-kill, two-dragon lead in the final game of the tournament, playing around the famous Kog’Maw-Lulu pairing they drafted for Carnage and Usagi. DLSU looked to push their advantage in the game and managed to put themselves at Soul-point, but a costly mistake allowed ADMU’s economy to catch up as VA gave their adversaries from the north crucial shut downs on Izumi and Carnage. With good kid’s Viktor gaining his core items, LG managed to bully their way to take the first Baron and deny VA the crucial Chemtech Dragon Soul. All the power in the title-clinching game was in the hands of good kid. This allowed LG to take Game Three in 28 minutes and the championship glory, 2-1.
Top laner Defile shared that his side fell short in Game One, but furthers, “It’s a team game, everyone makes mistakes.” Moving forward, the second year student believes that the team will come back stronger, given that the team were unable to prepare as much as they wanted to, “We barely practiced. We’re honestly shocked that we even reached [the] top two.”
With their roster’s time together still up in the air, Eternal shares after their valiant run, “A lot of us are going to be graduating…We’re going to be looking for people who are gonna replace us.”
Despite being unable to take the top spot in the tournament, Viridis Arcus’ inspiring Finals run made the Lasallian community and their fanbase proud. The whole collegiate League of Legends scene can look forward to a new-look VA lineup next season that will look to build on this season’s effort.
