I did not have a chance to attend the recent ESL event here in the Philippines so when I got a crack to cover the Manila Masters 2017 press event, I knew that I will be going to one of the biggest e-sports events in the world this year.
It was fortunate for me to attend the finale, Day 3 of the said e-gaming event with semifinals and finals on it. When I arriived, the game 2 (in best of 3) battle of Team NP and Team EG (Evil Geniuses) is about to finish. Together with some local tech media and VIPs, I was able to be on the PLDT SME Nation Premiere Suites which has a dedicated comfort room, couch and seats that can go as maximum of 18 people (aka the 3rd floor of Mall Of Asia Arena
So it went on a grueling game 3 and it went to Team EG to face Team Newbee in the finals. In between breaks, that was the time for me for some food and glimpse to some of their partners. As expected, the booths of Smart, ASUS Republic of Gamers and Mineski Infinity are jampacked. I knew that the food prices will be jacked up a little higher but kudos to the likes of Yellow Cab and Krispy Kreme for those prices like in outside of the venue.
Before the finals, there was a cosplay contest from Smart with Alodia Gosiengfiao as host
So it went for a best-of-5 finals. Game 1 was easy for Team EG but Game 2 went to Team Newbee and the next two games for the champion of Manila Masters which is Team Evil Geniuses. If you have a chance to watch the replay, games 2 to 4 were literally down-the-wire and the gaming fans inside the MOA Arena got their moneys worth.
The event finished at a few miutes before midnight but definitely worth the day for me and the event was organized properly. Big thanks to PLDT and Smart for my pass for the Manila Masters 2017. See the rest of my gallery below.
