Talon PH battles adversity in pursuit of Pokémon Unite glory

MANILA, Philippines — With changes throughout the qualification for the Pokémon Unite World Championship, the country’s sole representatives, Talon PH had a clear goal: win one game at a time, stay focused, and never underestimate any opponent. 

“Our team’s mindset at Worlds was simple — to focus on winning, taking it one game at a time, with full determination and without hesitation but with pressure kasi it's hard to underestimate a team during world championship,” the team told Philstar.com.

To prepare for the global stage, Talon PH scrimmaged with teams from different regions, gaining insights into diverse metas and play styles.

The team added, “We watch and scrim with other teams to have an idea and to adapt on different meta or different regions. That gave us a double-edged sword kasi they also did the same for us,” they explained.

But the team’s journey was far from smooth. Technical issues plagued their matches, starting with device limitations. Members of the team had to use a spare device provided by the tournament’s third-party organizers that only ran at 30 FPS. But even, so the team pushed forward, even scoring highlights like the team’s match against Cakecalok, where Ducke "Dylan" Leoncio successfully secured Rayquaza despite the handicap.

The team booked a playoff spot after finishing the group stages as the second seed in Group C with a 1-1 win-loss record. But due to the incident, changes to using a spare phone were changed and brought more challenges to the team come Day 2.

According to player Kim Rey “Kyy” Salazar, as they were playing against Nouns Esports, they encountered yet another issue with the phone they were using.

“During our match against Nouns at the B-Stage, we had a strong start. However, at around 8:50 minutes into the game, the phone I was using suddenly lost Wi-Fi connection.” shared Salazar on X, formerly Twitter.

The delay stretched to 25 minutes, which ended when the organizers awarded a default win to the opposing team.

The team’s manager Albert “berty” Camp, supported by fellow Filipinos in Anaheim, fought to address the decision. Tensions also rose online as players blamed the team for the changes to the guidelines.

In their participation in the world championship last year, Talon PH recalled how they were lent a top tier gaming phone by then organizers ESL, whenever their own devices would face issues.

With the device still unable to connect for the second game, Talon PH were forced to use the spare device locked at 30 FPS, a major disadvantage given the low quality visuals of the map.

“Playing with this device was extremely challenging, as it lacked visual clarity for enemy skill effects,” explained the team.

They would eventually exit the tournament in the first round of the playoffs, seeing a joint-ninth to a 16th-place finish.

Despite all the setbacks in their run in the 2025 championship, the team’s spirit remains unbroken.

“Back to square one, we will train and train hanggang sa makamit ang world champion title. We don't know kung saan na kami dadalhin by this point pero we will focus on one goal,” said the team.

The Pokémon Group has released a statement about the review of tournament operations for the 2026 championship.

"Following the 2025 Pokémon World Championships held in Anaheim from August 15-17, we received a wide range of feedback regarding tournament operations. The Pokémon Group sincerely acknowledges the concerns raised, particularly those stemming from the changes to smartphone device usage policies,” the statement read on X (formerly Twitter).

The statement outlined what has already been approved as changes for next year's world championship: that players will be using devices that tournament organizers have provided, that hardware the tournament organizers will provide will be sufficient for optimal gameplay and that device specifications will be confirmed 75 days before the tournament schedule.

They added, "We remain dedicated to fostering the growth of the competitive scene and creating an environment where players can perform at their highest level, while ensuring that fans and viewers around the world can continue to enjoy Pokémon UNITE tournaments."