Hanoi—Team Philippines-Sibol took Game 4 of their best-of-five finals series with Indonesia, 7-2, and claimed the 31st Southeast Asian Games Mobile Legends: Bang Bang at the Vietnam National Convention Center on Friday.
Composed of veteran players from Blacklist International, the Sibol roster is made up of Johnmar “PHI VILLALUNA” Villaluna as team captain, together with Danerie “PHI DEL ROSARIO” Del Rosario, Salic “Hadji” Imam, and Dexter “PHI ALABA” Alaba.
Amateur players Kyle “PHI SOTO” Soto, Howard “PHI GONZALES” Gonzales, and Russel “PHI USI” Usi, who have never competed in any Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional Leagues or tournaments, were also part of the winning roster.
Gonzales took charge with the Beatrix the marksman and joined up with Del Rosario’s seldom used Akai, the panda tank support hero, to help the Philippines claim a second gold medal in the Esports category, with the first one coming from the Wild Rift, courtesy of all-female Grindsky Eris on Wednesday night.
The Philippines won three golds, a silver and a bronze during esports’ debut in the games during the 2019 Philippine edition.
Sibol finished the finals series with Indonesia after winning three games and losing only one match.
After Indonesia’s Calvin “Vynnn” tied the contest at 2-all with his slaying of Johnmar “OhMyV33nus” Villaluna’s Lolita the support tank, Sibol went on a rampage, with Gonzales going for a triple kill on three Indonesian foes.
As Salic Alauya “Hadji” Imam capped Sibol’s killing spree with Xavier the half-elf mage’s Dawn of Light’s sniping shot on Albert Neilsen “Alberttt” Iskandar’s Emeralda the mage, the Filipinos squad never relinquished their advantage.
The Indonesias were caught flatfooted, unable to level up immediately with their available resources and counter the assault, and from there, Sibol went on to finish the game by destroying their rivals’ three remaining defensive towers.
When it was over, Gonzales ended his stint with three kills, one death and two assists, in the final game that lasted in only 10 minutes and 52 seconds.
Sibol took Game 1 with a 17-8 triumph over Indonesia, with Gonzales pulling a 5-1-6 kill-death assist record off his Wan Wan the marksman character.
While Del Rosario focused his energies on keeping Rivaldi “R7” Fatah at bay, Gonzales joined forces with Imam and Villaluna in setting up ambushes that kept Indonesia’s support crews from coming close.
Indonesia managed to recover in Game 2 with a 18-10 edge, after sniping got Villaluna slain thrice early in the game.
Sibol took Game 3 with a 24-16 victory, and defied Alberttt’s successful bid to immortalize his character.
Gonzales tallied nine kills and five assists, and he had to respawn thrice.
The match was tied at 16-all, when Sibol took the lead, 19-16, following two quick kills from Imam and Kyle Dominic Soto, with Imam finding a way to neutralize Alberttt.
