The 2019 SEAGames esports opening ceremony began at the San Juan Arena with a series of videos about the months of preparation leading up to the event, produced by official SEAGames esports partner, Razer. Opening remarks by Hon. Mayor Francis Zamora of San Juan City, Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan, Asian Electronic Sports Federation President Kenneth Fok, and Congressman Abraham Tolentino followed, and after Philippine representative Jia led the oath of sportsmanship, the virtual games began.
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang was the first game of the day, with Team Malaysia and Team Vietnam kicking off in the qualifiers. Malaysia took the first win at 11 and a half minutes, overwhelming Vietnam with a double-marksman draft and impressive map control. Vietnam fought back hard, coming out victorious after an extended 22:32 match.
Later on in the Group B matches, Team Thailand swept the first game completely, defeating Team Philippines at the 10:26 mark. Game 2 was a different story, though, with Team Philippines sorting out their draft issues and bringing home the win at 11:56.
It should be noted that for the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang games, the ultimate winners are decided via total points tally at the end of a best of 2 series.
The first of the Starcraft II games followed, with Chatchapol “KomCorx” Junthong from Thailand pit against Trần “MeomaikA” Hồng Phúc of Vietnam. The latter emerged victorious with a clean 2-0 sweep against the Thai competitor. Trần maintained dominance all throughout, managing a 3-base lead and even eking out resource-hungry Ultralisks.
In Starcraft II’s second group, Malaysia’s Jonathan “Nefarious” Wong surprised everyone by taking the first match’s victory against all odds, as the Terran player historically held a mere 21% win rate against Protoss players such as Singapore’s Thomas “Blysk” Kopankiewicz. The Singaporean was able to turn the tables completely, however, taking advantage of Wong’s overextensions and walking away with a 2-1 win.
Closing off the first day’s qualifiers was the Hearthstone discipline.Thailand’s Werit “Disdai” Popan used a Quest Druid deck and sealed the first match with a carefully-played Starfall against Indonesia’s Hendry Koentarto “Jothree” Handisurya, playing Combo Priest. In the second match, Popan’s Evolve Shaman deck didn’t fare as well against Handisurya’s good draws. The tiebreaker was an Evolve Shaman mirror match that went in Handisurya’s favor, who brought the victory to Indonesia.
The final Hearthstone matchup of the day featured Jacintha “Jia” Dee of the Philippines against Malaysia’s Weng Kean “wkyew90” Yew. Round 1 showcased another Evolve Shaman mirror match won by Yew who played a high risk, high reward 2nd turn Mutate. In game 2, Jia prevailed against Yew with a well-played Bloodlust and no shortage of minions. Unfortunately for Jia, the final Paladin mirror match left her with no breathing room as Yew switched to board control tactics and secured the win for Malaysia.
That wraps up the day 1’s qualifiers. Tune in to the 2019 SEAGames esports broadcasts today and tomorrow to catch the gold medal matches and ceremonies, as well as on Dec. 10 for a completely different esport discipline to watch: Tekken 7. JP Esteban