Despite short preparation, Talon finishes 5th at Pokemon world tilt

MANILA, Philippines — With huge pressure after all-Filipino team Elevate (formerly OMO Abyssinian) finished silver in last year’s Pokemon Unite World Championship, current local champion Talon is hoping to win it all.

Unfortunately, like many esports players and teams, a challenge out of their control almost prevented them from competing: travel documents.

“On our first attempt sa pag-apply ng visa, we got denied due to the wrong category. On our second attempt, we saw that our fellow Filipino team, Elevate, got denied and we thought we would be denied as well kasi nauna po sila sa schedule. Pero we were able to fix our documents and apply the suggestions that were given to us by the travel agency. Luckily, lahat naman po kami na-approve,” shared Talon manager Albert Camp.

The team got their travel documents approved on August 5, 11 days before the tournament opener in Honolulu, Hawaii, giving them more or less a week of preparation before meeting the top teams in the world stage.

But even with the clutch preparation, the team swept the group stages, finishing at the top of Group B to book their slot in the playoffs.

“One week lang yung naging preparation naming, not bad na rin. Tiwala na lang rin talaga sa isa't-isa Kahit kulang yung practice, naiwan sa meta, nag stick kami sa strength namin,” said player Robert "Sync1" Mempin.

Mempin also attributes the team’s success to newcomer Kim "Kyy" Salazar, who had propelled the team to new heights.

Mempin adds, “Naging confident kami nung sumali si Kyy. Nag level-up yung synergy namin and teamwork simula nung dumating siya.”

The team eventually reached the quarterfinals but fell to Japan’s Fennel. The squad, however, survived European champion Nouns Esports to end the world championship at fifth place.

Looking back on their run, players Ducke "Dylan" Leoncio, Lance "Lance" David, and Cedryck “Hitori” Ellar are grateful to have been given the opportunity to travel to far away places for esports and Pokemon.

“Masaya po kasi kahit nag-aaral pa po yung iba, yung iba talagang paglalaro yung hanap buhay, nadala kami ng Pokemon sa Hawaii and dahil nga po sa esports malayo rin po yung nararating namin,” said David.

For captain, Lawrance "RBX" Gatmaitan, though the team fell short of the championship, he is happy with the result the team were able to achieve given their short preparation time.

“Kahit ano naman nangyari, ginawa po namin yung best namin. Ok na ako sa results kahit one week yung preparation namin, I'm satisfied with that. Syempre may goal kami to be world champions na kaya naman namin pero ayun di kami pinalad ngayon, try again next year,” said Gatmaitan.

Looking back, Gatmaitan believes the team has progressed very well based on their standing from the previous year and if the pattern continues, Pokemon Unite might just see its first all-Filipino world champion.

“Last year, we were ninth place. This year we finished fifth place. Tumaas kami ng apat. Siguro, next year apat ulet i-aakyat and syempre number one na yun. Ganun po yung expectation ko lalo't na at tuloy-tuloy naman po yung development ng team and yung chemistry namin,” shared Gatmaitan.