2012 has undoubtedly been a fruitful year for the players under the MSI-Evolution Gaming Team (MSI-EvoGT). From earning the first ever World Cyber Games (WCG) medal for the Philippines in the First Person Shooting (FPS) category – to dominating in local battles in multi-games e-Sports titles, the four squads of MSI-EvoGT have proven that despite being brought together under one umbrella organization from different teams originally, they can become a force to be reckoned with in the e-Sports arena.
A brainchild of local e-Sports advocate Irymarc “Tryke” Gutierrez and maintained under the management of NetEssentials, MSI’s exclusive distributor in the Philippines, MSI-EvoGT was officially launched on 19 March 2012 by MSI to support the rising e-Sports scene in the Philippines. The word “Evolution” indicates the aspiration that this team shall help the gamer’s perception of gaming evolve into a whole new level, a small step in professionalizing e-Sports in the Philippines.
To achieve this, MSI acquired top local teams namely The Net.Execration for Defense of the Ancients (DotA), Exo.Blazer (later on replaced by Mski.Dane) for Starcarft II (SC2) and Cristal for Crossfire (CF).
TheNet.com (TnC), Execration DOTA’s Internet cafe sponsor, also extended support to the SC2 and CF squads of MSI-EvoGT, and was eventually recognized as the official gaming venue of the team for team practices and online tournaments. The team was henceforth called MSI-EvoGT.TnC to stand for MSI- Evolution Gaming Team.TheNet.Com, while SteelSeries continues to be one of the pioneer and main sponsors of the team.
In September 2012, MSI-EvoGT.TnC acquired TnC’s sponsored team, Wild.TnC and included LoL as part of the gaming categories that they support, bringing it to four titles. Before the turn of the year, the DotA roster decided to focus solely on DOTA 2 to catch up with the international scene. Members of Pag-ibig.TnC, the PH representative to the prestigious SEA DOTA 2 tournament called “The Asia” merged with two former members of MSI-EvoGT.TnC to form a new team whose goal for 2013 is to be invited to The International 3 (TI3).
On 26 January 2013, TnC opened its headquarters to serve as boot camp for the exclusive use of MSI-EvoGT – the first and so far only, in the Philippines.
THE EVOLUTION CONTINUES
Of the teams’ many tournaments the past year, their participation in the Pinoy Gaming Festival (PGF 2012) has seen their utmost feats and cemented their name in the gaming scene. The former DotA and LoL teams both finished as first runner up in the biggest local e-Sports tournament, while the Crossfire team emerged as champions which served as their ticket to the WCG in China where they didn’t disappoint as they took home the Bronze medal.
But the road to success was no easy one for the entire team, with members departing and rosters changing. Tryke singled out that the major drawback of changes in the roster involved failing to “find the right groove.” However, this dilemma didn’t stop the gamers from staying focused and being on top of their games as much as they can. As he puts it, “At the end of the day it’s all about who wants it more. Players come and go but the most important thing is that we have instilled the importance of winning to our players more than anything else and that’s regardless of who they are playing with. No matter what the situation may be, MSI-EvoGT will continue to BELIEVE and give everything to stay on top.”
If anything, the hurdles, he noted, shaped the members to be more adaptive to various circumstances and continuously evolving. “I think the greatest evolution of our players is that they learned how to love MSI and SteelSeries and embrace the brands that have been supporting them through thick and thin. There’s no question that these are the top two gaming brands in the market right now and there’s no other company that supports and loves their gaming teams more than these two brands,” said MSI-EvoGT’s founder.
Currently, the teams are training in the TnC boot camp and are ultimately dreaming of being crowned as world champions in prestigious tournaments like the WCG, TI3, Intel Extreme Masters, Season 3 League of Legends Championship Series, among other international tournaments.
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