World Championship Team Highlight - Mineski

Southeast Asia is really a null zone when it comes to coverage for those in North America and Europe, as the twelve hour time differential and lack of big name stars has really stifled any attention that the region gets from viewers out West. However, it can be fatal to ignore the region, as last year's teams learned when the Taipei Assassins took out the strongest teams from Korea and Europe to claim the title and the Saigon Jokers upset Team Dignitas in the group stage. Once again, SEA is seen as the black horse region, and they're represented by a team that no one in SEA expected: Team Mineski.

Team Mineski is a squad from the Phillipines that has had moderate success in their home country and in regional tournaments. They've won their monthly self-titled GIGABYTE Mineski Pro Gaming League, which pits the top teams of the Phillipines against each other, every month since June, and came in second in their national qualifiers. However, the Phillipines has long been considered one of the, if not the, weakest nations in SEA, with the national representive in the Garena Premier League, the Manila Eagles, being a perennial bottom feeder. If anything, Team Mineski comes into Worlds having proved to the world that the Filipinos have a place in competitive League of Legends.

Team Mineski's path to the Championship began with them winning the MSI-TNC Gaming Cups in May and June, which qualified them for their national qualifiers. At the national finals, Mineski beat MSI Evolution, the team that came in third at last year's SEA Regionals, but lost to the Manila Eagles in the second round. In the loser's bracket, they beat the amateur squad El Dorado and MSI Evolution again, before beating the Manila Eagles in the loser's bracket finals. From there, they faced Exile and lost, but because Exile was unable to travel to Vietnam for the Regional Finals, Mineski would take the Phillipines' berth there.

At the Regional Finals, Team Mineski opened up the tournament with a game against Vietnam's second place team Xgame, and beat the home squad convincingly. They then went up against the Singapore Sentinels, last year's second place team and the favorites to win the entire tournament. In a long game, characterized by SGS's AD Carry Chawy repeatedly surviving fights with a sliver of health, Singapore was able to defeat Mineski dropping them into the loser's bracket. In the loser's bracket, Mineski faced the Bangkok Titans, Thailand's representitive to the tournament who had recently acquired Navy, a Vietnamese mid laner who had played for the Saigon Fantastic Five. Navy dominated Mineski in the early game, going up 5/0/0, but the game turned around when Yume single-handedly stopped four of the Titans from taking Baron. From there, the Filipinos faced the Kuala Lumpur Hunters, who represented Malaysia.

This game is unique only in that Kaigu chose to run Karma in the Jungle, and Mineski won easily, placing them into the third-place match against last years SEA Representitive, the Saigon Jokers. In a long game, Mineski took it to go into the finals against the team that sent them down into the loser's bracket to begin with. In two exciting games, Mineski took the series, upsetting the favorites and becoming the representitive of Southeast Asia to the Season 3 World Championships.

The Team

Left: Arjay "Jay3" Orcasitas - Team Manager

Bottom Left: Lance "Kaigu Hernandez - Jungler - Mineski's Jungler Kaigu really is the lynchpin of Mineski's early game, and often goes for early ganks in the solo long lane. He has a very deep champion pool, with obvious preferences in Lee Sin and Zac, but is willing to bring out absolutely odd choices such as Karma in professional play.

Middle: Daniel "Yume" Balisi - Middle Lane - Yume has very strong preferences in Ryze and Karthus, and will run those Hypercarries whenever he can. He also oftentimes serves as the frontline of his team, rushing into dangerous situations that most other Mid Laners wouldn't. This "reckless" play can cost him at times, but it also has turned games around as he 1v4s enemy teams. Matched with the other high aggression mids of Group B, the camera will be locked on mid lane for much of the early game.

Top: Elijah "Snoy" Guerrero - Top Lane - Snoy is the rock for Mineski. Even when the rest of the team is doing poorly, Snoy can be expected to be chugging away in the top lane, winning his lane. Relying on a stable of strong initiating characters such as Malphite, Jarvan IV, and Zac, Snoy roams quite a bit and will be the one to pick off individual opponents. In a Group full of dominant Top Laners, it will be interesting to see how Snoy fares.

Bottom Right: Gerald "Tgee" Gelacio - Support - The bottom lane of Mineski is a bit less aggressive than the rest of the squad. Tgee himself favors champions with strong disengage and peeling abilities, such as Sona and Thresh, to compliment the good positioning of...

Right: Eric "Exo" Gubatan - AD Carry - Exo plays AD Carries that have the ability to win through positioning: Ezrael, Twitch, and Tristana are his trio of favorites, and while Tgee and Exo aren't the most aggressive bottom lane, they also know when they are behind and how to stay safe. Exo frequently ends games with the lowest death total on his team, and isn't that what you want from the AD Carry.