Unfazed by a thrilling match, Accountancy (ACC) Griffiins dethroned the Palarong Atenista’s Dota 2 reigning champions and their last year’s finals rivals, the School of Engineering and Architecture (SEA) Tigers, on a 2 – 1 win.

Both teams started aggressively in game 1, putting pressure on each other’s defenses at the top lane in the early game. However, the Tigers’ greedy approach, ushered by their support Dazzle’s over-extending, costed them the first blood and two more consecutive kills by the Griffins.

With a dominating gold lead and consistent kills, the Griffins had already pulled away in the late game. The Tigers’ effort to clutch through their carry Juggernaut climbing up the ranks in net worth went in vain as the clashes were too much to handle for SEA, causing them to drop the first match.

Trying to even out the finals series, the Tigers entered game 2 with a completely different line-up, utilizing Griffins’ Viper, while the Griffins also came with a new set of heroes yet retained Lich, also stealing the Tigers’ Dawnbreaker.

Delivering relentless rotation and map awareness from both sides of the map, the teams forced a deadlock from consecutive clashes in the early game at both seven kill points in the 9-minute mark. 

Yet, ACC’s steady strategy and gameplay enabled them to command the late game with a convincing 28 to 19 kill gap, together with their safe lane Sniper topping the gold ranking at the 30-minute mark. Still, the significant lead did not daunt SEA’s determination to tie the match-up, optimizing their Medusa in farming.

The Tigers slowly but surely bounced back as their Medusa reaped the most gold and rendered lethal damage in the late game, taking control over the Griffins in clashes and eventually suppressing their supposed finals sweep.

The decider match opened with ACC capturing the early lead, confidently farming and steering the momentum on their side with their carry Bristleback and midlane Necrophos in the forefront. 

This time, the Griffins did not let their guard down until the end of the game, successfully claiming the Dota 2 championship trophy in this year’s Palarong Atenista.

ACC Griffins’ Team Captain Kyle Magusara (IGN: Kael) revealed that their strategy was to stick to their best and comfort heroes.

“For this year’s Palaro, we did a lot of stuff in our practices like scrimmages and 5-man ranked games. We build our trust, confidence, and bond as we play along throughout the whole event,” he told Atenews, referring to their preparations for the tournament.

Meeting with their last year’s finals nemesis, the 3rd-year Accountancy student noted that it made them happy and eager to win because they wanted to take revenge and break the 1st-place curse against SEA.

“Congratulations and thank you for the all-out support, especially to our cluster head Kuya Iñigo, our manager ate Riane, and our sports head Kuya Jacob,” he said to his cluster.

The Dota 2 championships were held on August 6, and the replays can be watched via the SAMAHAN Palarong Atenista’s Facebook Page