AcadArena’s Alliance Games League of Legends: Wild Rift tournament saw a lot of upsets and celebrations on the first day of the playoffs round last Friday, November 10. The first day saw a whopping four full matches between the top 8 teams. Three out of all four games ended with a sweep, with the match between the University of Rizal System Digital Giants (DG) and Pamantasang Lungsod ng Manila Haribons Ionos (HAR) being the exception.

Angels outsoar Gearhawks

HAU Valiant Esports vs. TUP Gearhawks (via AcadArena)

The first series was a match between Holy Angel University Valiant Esports (VE) and Technological University of the Philippines Gearhawks Esports (GHX).

GHX opened the series with a funnel strategy in the first game, with Marvin Noah “Marzumi” Lansangan playing Lulu in the Baron lane, and Bryll Cristian “bitter end” Hernando playing Kayle in the Jungle. This composition looks good on paper, centered around Kayle’s hyper-carry potential if given enough experience. 

However, it looked good on paper only. The team would meet their bitter end at the hands of VE in the first game. VE fielded an aggressive composition, running Gwen in the Baron lane, Zed in the jungle, Yone in the mid lane, and a dangerous duo of Nasus-Karma in the Dragon lane for Chino “Shino” Engallado and Ian Kyle “Kome” Reyes.

VE’s first-game momentum didn’t end after their first win against GHX and continued to soar high and ultimately…