Imperial Esports will represent the Philippines in the Arena of Valor (AoV) event of the 31st Southeast Asian Games.
Imperial Esports sealed the slot after defeating Kalasag Allstar in the grand finals of the Sibol AoV Phase 2 qualifiers, with a clean sweep 4-0 in the best-of-7 series.
Before heading to the finals, both teams dominated their respective matches. Imperial Esports crushed Team Endgame and Encore Esports. Meanwhile, Kalasag Allstar beat Valiant Warriors and Skylight Esports.
Imperial Esports is composed of Dau, Ode, Crustcore, SofiaNicole, and Tora.
In a post-game interview, player Dau said that all their hard work in preparation for the qualifiers was worth it.
"Worth it yung pagod namin sa mga stream. Yung mga walang tulog namin na gabi," said Dau. (Our hard work during our streams was worth it. Those sleepless nights.)
"Lahat kami may work, tapos yung iba nagii-school. Tapos yung schedule namin, parang nung una di ganoon kaseryoso kasi wala yung iba. Yung commitment di ganoon ka-100%. Tapos yung nagsimula, papalapit na ng papalapit, yun nga, doon na nagseryoso yung mga stream namin," added Dau (We all have jobs, then the others are schooling. Then our schedule, it seems at first it wasn't that serious because the others weren't present. The commitment is not 100%. Then it started, getting closer and closer, that's it, that's where our streams got serious.)
Mobile MOBA title Arena of Valor is the last game for the qualifiers of Sibol, the Philippine national esports team.
AoV is one of 8 esports titles to be played in the 31st SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam, in May 2022. This will be the second appearance of the mobile MOBA game in the biennial regional multi-sport event. Thailand bagged the gold in the AoV event in the last SEA Games 2019, while the Philippines didn't achieve a podium finish after being eliminated early from the competition.
Other squads that have earned their Sibol spots are as follows:
- Rise Nation and God Ascends (Free Fire)
- West Point Esports (LoL PC)
- Jorrel Aristorenas, Bilog FC, and Radalad (FIFA Online 4)
- Pacific Macta Infirma (CrossFire)
- ZAP Battlegroundz and KHI Esports (PUBG Mobile)
- LF Adoption and GrindSky Eris (Wild Rift men's and women's division)
- Blacklist International (Mobile Legends: Bang Bang)
Image via Sibol
