Leaving no room for the opponent to adjust and strategize, Computer Studies (CS) Chameleons dominated the championship match against the School of Engineering and Architecture (SEA) Tigers, seizing the championship title for this year’s Palarong Atenista 2021 Valorant tournament.

With only one defeat in their record, the CS Chameleons Valorant team bagged the winning title, courtesy of Reginald “Tenma” Falgui II, Enrico “Delaware” Alba, Takeru “タケル” Banaybanay, James “MY신” Omay, Rudolph “odori” Razul, and Lloyd “DEVIL” Supera.

SEA Tigers’ Miguel “gigz” Clavero, Angel “Mist” Cortez, Jayvee “jebbyy” Flores, Jovit “Jov” Leopoldo, John “Levi” Paco, and Luke “Merl1n” Umusig failed to retaliate and finished as first runner-up.

Beginning with Chameleon’s map pick, Ascent, it was undoubtedly a one-sided game. The Chameleons had a very aggressive team composition with タケル on Reyna, MY신 on Jett, Delaware on Sova, Tenma on Omen, and DEVIL on Killjoy.

On the other hand, the Tigers settled with a one duelist composition with Jov on Reyna, Levi on Killjoy, Merl1n on Astra, gigz on Sage, and Mist on Sova to hopefully counter the expected aggression from the Chameleons.

Taking advantage of their aggressive team composition, the Chameleons showed dominance as early as the 2nd round of the game, with MY신 mowing down three Tigers using a Marshall, stopping the B-main push from the defenders.

The half ended with Merl1n getting three quick frags to keep the Tigers in the game. With a 2-10 half score, it proved difficult for the Tigers to defend their sites against the on-fire Chameleons.

The Tigers were able to pull off a B take on round 16 and successfully defended the spike in a close post-plant situation. However, despite their best efforts, the firepower difference only resulted in two more round wins for the Tigers, ending game 1 of the finals with a 13-4 score, favoring the Chameleons.

Hoping to tie the series, the Tigers’ team captain, gigz, took the role as Jett to try and rekindle their chances for the champion spot with their map pick, Haven. The Tigers’ team captain on Jett has been a force to reckon with during the entirety of the Palaro.

Despite the failure of their one duelist composition on Ascent, Tigers continued with gigz on Jett, Mist on Sova, Levi on Cypher, Merl1n on Astra, and Jov on Skye, which is understandable considering the team has to defend three bombsites on Haven.

Only replacing Killjoy with Cypher for the second game, the Chameleons almost had the same team composition. However, with DEVIL on Jett, タケル on Reyna, Delaware on Omen, MY신 on Sova, and Tenma on Cypher, it looked like the Chameleons were ready to take their crown.

The Chameleons started the game with two rounds on the board with タケル leading the charge on the first round with four kills. The win streak was eventually only stopped by a flawless round win by the Tigers on round 8, resulting in a 3-5 score, still favoring the Chameleons.

The Tigers had the chance to turn things around with a 1v1 situation between Mist and Tenma in the 9th round. Unfortunately for the Tigers, Tenma clutched the round with a quick Vandal flick to Mist’s head despite having only 5 HP.

Their dominance continued as Chameleons bagged consecutive rounds. Even with the technical difficulties, the Chameleons were still able to widen the gap, making way for their victory with a 13-5 scoreline in game 2.

Winning by a landslide 2-0 series score, the CS Chameleons were hailed champions of this year’s Valorant competition.

Rule violations cost Vipers championship spot

Before the championship match, numerous objections and confusion arose from the audience regarding the competing clusters. Initially, the Business and Management (B&M) Vipers were in line to compete with the CS Chameleons for the title. 

However, the Vipers were said to have committed multiple tournament violations in accordance with the guidelines, concluding the tilt in a third-place finish.

In an official announcement made by the SAMAHAN Commission on Audit (COA) on Twitter, they emphasized that the Palarong Atenista ‘21 abides by the university’s “Cheer don’t Jeer” policy. Thus, implicit and explicit forms of jeering were prohibited. 

“During the game, implicit forms of jeering were made, and beforehand, during the August 11, 2021 game between the CS Chameleons and SEA Tigers. As part of the penalty, the SEA Tigers proceeded to the Valorant Championship Round in place of the B&M Vipers,” the statement read.

B&M Vipers Valorant team captain Rafael Tan expressed how hard it was to take the news, especially after winning the game convincingly with a 2-0 series sweep against the SEA Tigers.

“As a player, it was difficult to receive [the] negative news right after our winning game. We take accountability if we directly or indirectly offended anyone, but as a player, it was not an easy decision to take,” Tan said.

“We do feel like we still could have participated in the finals, given that we were also able to tell our side to the Technical Working Group (TWG) when they requested it,” he added.

Reginald Falgui, CS Chameleons’ team captain, shared that this competition has taught their entire team the value of trust after winning the first-ever Valorant tournament in Palarong Atenista without much preparation.

“Despite no team preparations, we won, and that is because we trusted our skills, experiences, and our in-game leader, Omywa (James “MY신” Omay).  We pushed through because we had the whole CS cluster backing us up and cheering for us all the way,” Falgui said.

“Most significantly, this victory is for our cluster, the CS Chameleons. We pushed through despite busy schedules, no proper planning, preparation, and practice because we had the whole CS cluster backing us up and cheering for us all the way,” he added.

The winning team’s captain also highlighted that amid their busy schedules brought by the heavy educational workloads, their team managed gaming, esports, and academic and non-academic responsibilities.

“Rather than the notion that esports hinders academics and productivity, the reality is that e-sports became a haven and a happy place for many people,” the CS Chameleons team captain shared.

“Playing esports is a stress-reliever and helps one’s mental health, especially amidst everything that is happening. The acceptance and booming support for it in the Philippines is heartwarming since the country is finally warming up and opening to the beautiful purpose of esports,” he said.