THE UST Teletigers Esports Club (UST TGR) team bagged the Jobstreet Level Up Esports title after whipping the Mapua Gaming Society (MGS), 2-0, in a best-of-three VALORANT finals series on Sunday, Feb. 9.
In dominant fashion, the Teletigers only dropped a single map throughout the entire collegiate tournament at the Alliance Global Tower in Taguig.
“The feeling of winning against fellow collegiate teams is fulfilling because we proved that UST is one of the strongest regardless of roster changes,” UST TGR initiator Nathan “Manuta” Manuta told The Flame.
With Pearl as the first map of the match, UST TGR overcame a 3-9 deficit to win the game in overtime, 15-13.
Elijah “MrSmoothOperator” Navarro used new agent Tejo to reel his team to victory in the 27th round during the second overtime.
“For the finals against Mapua, we had doubts during the first map that’s why the score became 3-9…. But for the second half, we trusted ourselves that we could win it and we were better compared to them,” Manuta said.
The second map in Lotus saw UST TGR gain composure to cap off the game 13-9 after main controller Arthas “Roui” Troy scored a double kill.
After leading his squad to a sweep, Troy bagged the Most Valuable Player of the finals.
UST was represented by Manuta, Troy, Navarro, Jared “Melior” Dandan, Miguel “Lamperouge” Gumaru, Jeremy “Wildflower” Tan and Angelo “Skaibloo” Ysibido.
The tournament was composed of eight teams, namely the UST TGR, MGS, National University’s NU Wizards Circle, Polytechnic University of the Philippines’ Pylon Esports, University of the East Zenith Esports, Far Eastern University’s Tams FX, University of the Philippines Diliman Oblation Esports and University of Makati Fortem Ardeas Esports.
After winning the title, Manuta expressed enthusiasm for future tournaments with the team’s refreshed teamwork.
“This team is much better compared to our team during UAAP since we have better chemistry. So I think we can finally defeat DLSU 2-0,” Manuta said.
Last August, the Teletigers brought home silver in the inaugural UAAP esports tilt after getting swept by the DLSU Green Aces, 2-0. F
