THE UST Teletigers Esports Club (UST TGR) Helios captured the inaugural Honor of Kings (HOK) Kings of Campus Series title on Thursday, May 15.
TGR Helios took down the Gamer’s Guild of Pamantasan ng Cabuyao, 3-1, to win P200,000 worth of scholarships.
UST coach Adi Canlas said it was a sweet moment as this was a redemption arc for his team against Gamer’s Guild.
“We had previously lost to them in another tournament finals, 3-1. But this time, it was a different story—we got our revenge and beat them 3-1 to clinch the KCS championship,” Canlas told The Flame.
Relatively a new game, HOK is something that Canlas and the rest of the team want to be the best at.
“The journey wasn’t easy. It took a lot of hard work, in-game grinding, proper time management, and other sacrifices to make sure we were fully prepared for this tournament,” the coach said.
“We were confident that we were contenders when we entered KCS, but we never underestimated any team. We approached the tournament with the mindset that being careless could lead to setbacks,” he added.
The first game was a breeze for UST as it cleaned up the field before reaching the 15-minute mark, 14-9.
It was an even faster second match in favor of TGR Helios as a triple kill by team captain Marvin Troy “REWIND” Gonzales secured the victory under the ten-minute mark, 15-2.
Facing a sweep, Gamer’s Guild refused to back down by pushing the match to 25 minutes. With no turrets remaining, TGR Helios could not defend its home base, 31-24.
Gonzales drew first blood in the fourth match, but a clash and a double kill by in-game leader Sherwin Jude “SHERB” Salilig near the tyrant area secured the gold lead.
TGR Helios then converged on Gamer’s Guild base after a double kill from Jun Angelo “BENG” Abuan, 24-15, to win the title.
The team is composed of team captain Gonzales, in-game leader Salilig, jungler Abuan, farm lane Dwayne Mulboury “HASTE” Calazan, roamer Ralf Johann “SQUALO” Hilario, along with substitutes Bryan Paul “BRYCI” Carbonilla and Melaijah “xAstra” Manansala.
The tournament featured 16 teams nationwide, such as the Technological University of the Philippines, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Northwest Samar State University, Mindanao State University, Lyceum University of the Philippines Manila, Pamantasang Lungsod ng Maynila, among others. F
