Cebuano flies to Canada as DoTA 2 commentator
ESports casters, including a Cebuano, from Manila-based Tier One Entertainment/WomboxCombo and MineskiTV, are at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Canada to cover The International (TI) DoTA 2 championship.
For the first time, the Philippines is given a broadcast table at the tournament, where the prize pool money has increased to at least $25 million as of August 23. Official broadcast of the games is in English, Russian, Chinese and Filipino.
Covering for the Philippines are eSports commentators Irymarc “TryQ” Gutierrez, Nico “Kuyanic” Nazario, Marlon “Lon” Marcelo, Aldrin “Dunno” Pangan, Caisam “Wolf ” Nopueto, and Paolo “Pao” Bago.
Bago, the only Cebuano in the group, is covering his first TI.
“It’s surreal. I first started casting at Cebu’s IESF (International Esports Federation) Asian championship in 2014. I became part of the industry soon after as a writer. To be recognized and attend what is essentially the pinnacle of competitive Dota and to be invited by Valve is an honor,” he told SunStar Philippines via social media chat.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet since it’s been such a rush covering the games just a few meters from the and the stage,” he said.
DoTA 2, a popular multiplayer online video game developed by Valve Corp., has a huge fan base in the Philippines. TI 2018, or TI8, is being held in Vancouver from Aug. 20 to Aug. 25.
Representing the Philippines this year are professional eSports teams TNC Predator and Mineski.
As of Aug. 23, however, all Filipinos participating in the tournamemt have been eliminated.
TNC Predator, an all-Filipino team, was eliminated on the first day of the competition, or Aug. 21 in the Philippines.
Mineski, the oldest and most established eSports firm in the country, was eliminated on Day 2 or Aug. 22. Mineski had a Cebuano player named Michael Ross.
Bago said he and the rest of the commentators are a “bit dejected” that all Filipinos have bowed out of the competition.
“Even the Filipino players playing as individuals on foreign teams were eliminated yesterday so there’s definitely a rain cloud,” he said.
Fnatic, which had two Filipino players, was eliminated on the first day.
“But the games and the event as a whole have been great so we’re still enjoying the level of competition,” Bago said.
The Philippines has been covering the TI since 2016. This year, the coverage is dubbed Sanduguan 2018 and, for the first time, the Philippines has a broadcast table like the “more prestigious broadcasts,” Bago said.
The Philippine team of casters almost did not make it to Vancouver because of the runway shutdown at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) caused by the Xiamen Air accident.
The runway was shut down for almost 36 hours, from midnight of Aug. 17 until noon of Aug. 18, causing the cancellation of flights. Thousands of passengers were stranded.
Bago said he was supposed to fly out of Manila at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 18, but was accommodated on a flight to Vancouver only after about 10 hours of standing in a queue at the NAIA Terminal 1.
He, Marcelo and Pangan were the first to arrive in Vancouver. Other members of the team, Nazario and Gutierrez, managed to get on a flight to Vancouver only a couple of days later.