The Philippines has always been among the top contenders in the e-gaming arena. For Pokémon Unite World Championship Series 2023, a Filipino team representing Asia Pacific took second place.
The three-day tournament held in Yokohama, Japan from August 11 to 13 had a total of 28 teams vying for the gold medal. Although losing all three matches against Canadian team Luminosity Gaming, Filipino team Odd Man Out (OMO) Abyssinian‘s journey to the grand finals is still a feat to remember.
Jose Miguel Liban, Luis John Felizarte, Michael Vaughn Ocio, Joshua de Leon and Joe Daryl Maghanoy bagged $75,000 or about P4.3 million from their challenging endeavor in the championship match.
($1= PHP56.83)
During the semifinals, Luminosity and OMO Abyssinian had already fought each other in the winners bracket. But with the latter’s loss, the Filipino team had to claw its way up for a rematch against the formidable Canadian team in the grand finals.
Play-by-play recap
In a heated battle with Japanese team MJK under the losers’ bracket, OMO Abyssinian dominated with a 2-1 score, giving the Filipino team another chance to face Luminosity in the arena.
OMO Abyssinian played with their comfort Pokémon picks Trevenant, Leafeon, Cleffable, Blastoise and Glaceon for their first match in the grand finals. Winning early with 185 points against Luminosity with 111 points in the first half, the Canadian team quickly climbed in the last two minutes of the match with 201 points.
The first match ended with 341-265 points where Luminosity leads. OMO Abyssinian almost secured that win in the first match, but they let that slip before the last two minutes.
In the second match, OMO Abyssinian decided to play with similar picks Trevenant, Leafeon, Glaceon, Slowbro and Hoopa. Meanwhile, LG went for Inteleon, Umbreon, Blissey, Blastoise and Venusaur.
Leading in the first half with 42 points more than the other is Luminosity. But immediately shooting successive hoops is Abyssinian who turned the tides into their favor with 125-52 points, respectively.
But as usual, Luminosity eagerly bagged a hefty 560 points in the last few minutes of the match with OMO Abyssinian only carrying 246. Trying not to lose hope in the race to three wins, OMO Abyssinian pushed through the third match, hoping it wasn’t their last match in the tournament.
Luminosity chose Umbreon, Zoroark, Zacian, Mew and Comfey, while OMO Abyssinian picked Inteleon, Trevenant, Blastoise, Eldegoss and Talonflame. However, despite their hard effort to keep the fight going, Luminosity just dominated the third match by drowning OMO Abyssinian with 336 points against 5 in the first five minutes.
With no seconds left, OMO Abyssinian only managed to shoot 22 points in the 10-minute match, while Luminosity bagged 663 points, eventually taking the championship title for this season.
But even though the Filipino team lost against the unbeatable Luminosity, their competitor knew the prowess of OMO Abyssinian Pokémon Unite.
“Facing them in the winner’s bracket, we knew they were the best team. We were even hoping for Mjk or Oyasumi Makuro to beat them so we wouldn’t have to face them again,” Luminosity’s Sean Tucker said in an exclusive interview with ONE Esports.
Watch the recap of all championship matches here:
OMO Abyssinian was still a beast against all their other matches, but Luminosity was just a titan so difficult to compete with. Maybe in the next season, the Filipino team will have another opportunity to step foot in the arena and snatch the gold medal from Luminosity
