Great post TI6 Philippines reshuffle; TnC, XctN, Rave, Mineski changes

The Philippines reshuffle following in the wake of TI6 has been both surprising and on a large scope. TnC is down to two players as Jimmy “DeMoN” Ho, Carlo “Kuku” Palad and Marc Polo “Raven” Luis Fausto have left the roster. Mark “Cast” Pilar and Jun “Bokerino” Kanehara have left Mineski with three. Jio “Jeyo” Madayag, Rafael “Rapy” Sicat Palo and Ryo “ryOyr” Hasegawa have all left Rave. Fernando “Nando” Mendoza and Ralph Richard “RR” Peñano have parted ways with Execration following their TI6 wild card series run.

After enjoying an incredibly successful year of Dota 2, with Manila Major and ESL One Manila thrusting the region into a favorable light, the Philippines made history with two teams attending the Internationals for the first time. TnC continued to turn spectators into fans during their outstanding run during the main event.

The Philippines reshuffle has effected the most prominent teams in the region across the board.

Philippines reshuffle by team

TnC

From open qualifiers to top 8 in a thrilling fashion, TnC had won over the hearts of fans around the world. They sent VG.Reborn home early on the first day and eliminated two-time Major winners, OG.

The TnC TI6 journey ended at the hands of Digital Chaos in the Lower Bracket round 3. The Filipino sensation finished with a 7th-8th placement and a pay-check of over $500,000 – but also with their pride and the pride of their nation.

Now, only two remain. Both Sam “Sam_H” Enojosa Hidalgo and Nico “eyyou” Barcelon remain on the team. The two players began their journey in professional Dota 2 together, joining TnC as their first team in January 2015.

XctN

Execration

While their Filipino brethren were on the main stage, Execration were proudly cheering them on in the stands. The second Filipino team to make the trek with TnC did not make it through the TI6 Wild Card stage, but had made the nation proud none-the-less for their achievements so far.

All five players were complete greenhorns showing up to TI6. Abed “Abed” Yusop is most likely the youngest player to attend The Internationals at a tender age of just 15 years old.

Upon returning home XctN most recently took the championship title Mineski Pro-Gamin League S8 to Execration after an intense 5 game series against Mineski.

It was surprising to see Fernando “Nando” Mendoza and Ralph Richard “RR” Peñano were let go from the team.

Ralph Richard “RR” Peñano was the most experienced player on the team in terms of both length of time competing and variety of teams. RR started around 2012 MSI-EvoGT, Mineski, Execration and Rave at different points.

Nando is a well known carry player within the Philippines. After multiple stand in opportunities with the likes of Mineski and MSI-EvoGT, Nando was recruited to TnC by teammate Kim0 in 2015 as his first professional squad. Kimuel “Kim0” Rodis has played professionally since 2012, starting with MSI-evoGT.TnC and then Execration since their inception in June 2014.

Mineski

Mineski at ESL One Manila

In the winter season leading up to the Shanghai Major, Mineski was consistently besting the SEA giants, Fnatic, for the qualifier spots in LANs. They were quickly rising to the top in the region and making an international name for themselves. Unable to lock up any major achievements, the Filipino team experienced some roster changes, welcoming Benhur “Ben” Lawis and Jun “Bok” Kanehara to the mix.

Mineski was able to best their regional rivals, TnC Gaming, 3:1, in the best-of-five grand finals of the ESL One Manila qualifiers, seizinga spot and eventually took seventh-eighth place finish.

They then qualified for the Manila Major – taking a disappointing 13-16th place.

Last month Mineski announced that the famed Singaporean player Gavin “Meracle” Kang had officially joined the team.

Meracle assumed the carry role in Mineski, Ryan Jay “Raging-_-Potato/Bimbo” Qui returned to his roots on the midlane and Michael “Ninjaboogie” Ross became active as a primary member – filling the position 5 support role.

Both Benhur “Benhur” Lawis and Mark “Cast” Pilar had been “benched” and moved into the substitute roles while and Jessie “JessieVash” Cuyco had moved into the coaching position.

Cast’s departure is not as surprising as that of Bok.

Most recently the team grabbed the championship title for the Mr. Cat Invitational and second in Mineski Pro-Gamin League S8, falling at the hands of XctN.

Rave

Despite their strong performances in the SEA region and in international tournaments, Rave-Dota disbanded soon after they were eliminated, 0:2, by MVP.Phoenix in the Lower Bracket finals of the TI5 SEA qualifiers.

The team went on hiatus and then never fully recovered to their former status. Roster change upon roster change, the team failed to grab any notable achievements or results and continued to slip away from the spotlight.

February 19th, the Filipino team announced the Rave reform via Facebook. To fans’ delight, the team will be including former members Michael “Ninjaboogie” Ross and and Ryo “Ryoyr” Hasegawa and shortly after, Jio “Jeyo” Madayag.

Ninjaboogie left in July for Mineski. The departure of ryOyr and Jeyo signify the end of the reform, while rapy’s departure comes after almost one year of staying with the organization through their various shuffles.

Fall Major registration

For the team registrations this year, there is a two step or phase registration period including drop phase and add phase.

Teams have 17 days (now until September 4th) to release players from their current rosters for the upcoming season. This is an active process unlike previous seasons where the entire team was automatically dropped. Therefore players must leave the team or the management needs to remove any players that will not continue competing with the team. Any players that are still remaining on the team after September 4th are automatically locked in to the team.

New players can then be added to the roster between September 4-18th (two weeks) – locking on September 18th at 12:00AM PDT. This includes re-adding players that left or were dropped in the first phase.

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