Ultra Warriors rule inaugural The Nationals esports tourney

MANILA, Philippines — The Cignal Ultra Warriors delivered what was expected of them as the heavy favorites, ruling the inaugural conference of The Nationals after beating the Suha-Execration Punishers, 3-2, in the Dota 2 best-of-five finals series last Sunday at the Gariath Concepts in Eastwood City, Libis.

Cignal entered the championship round as the favorites after gaining an automatic berth with its league-best 13-3 record in the group stage of the first professional esports tournament.

The Warriors’ skills were on full display after winning a convincing Game 1 in the finals.

Though the Punishers put their foot on the pedal as they racked up back-to-back wins, including a 27-minute stomp in Game 2, the Ultra Warriors stepped up and won the final two games of the conference with a strong push oriented lineup of Beastmaster, Pugna, Jakiro, Dazzle and Sven in the final game.

Earlier, the Punishers eliminated PLDT-Smart Omega in a best-of-three semifinal that also went the distance. Overall, Suha-Execration played a total of eight games on playoff day.

With the victory, the Warriors won the top prize money of P400,000 for the three-week tournament, while the Punishers and second runner-up Omega got P200,000 and P100,000, respectively.

Cignal’s Fernando Mendoza was named Best Player of the finals series, finishing with an average of 9.4 kills, 6 assists, and 650 GPM per game.

The just concluded Dota 2 conference is one of the six conferences set in the competition’s inaugural year aired on 5Plus via ESPN5 and One Sports and eGG Network via CignalTV.

The next Dota 2 conference starts May 1.

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and Tekken 7, two of the country’s biggest games on mobile and console, will also host two conferences each later this year.