They were once the best Honor of Kings team in the Philippines, but a second-place finish is still quite a feat.
For BOOM Esports’ Impressive and team, the inaugural season of the Philippine Kings League was a journey about rediscovering themselves. Finishing the regular season with a 10-4 record, the Indonesia-based organization is the clear second-best team in the league.
However, Support player and team captain John “Impressive” Dela Curz was looking at something more than just the standings.
“Para sa akin, hindi importante yung results every week,” BOOM Esports’ Impressive upon reflecting on the regular season. “Ang gusto namin ay mahanap yung identity namin, kung ano yung nagwo-work, sino dapat i-play around. Sa mga middle of the season, nahanap namin yung play namin tapos tinuloy-tuloy na lang namin yun. Confident na kami na pagdating ng playoffs, kaya namin kahit sinong kalaban.”
Making it to second place was by no means an easy feat for BOOM, especially since they went through a bit of restructuring after failing to qualify for the Honor of Kings Invitational Season 3. That failure was quite a shock for the team, as prior to that, they were viewed as the best HoK team in the Philippines. But as BOOM Esports’ Impressive puts it, that loss was a blessing in disguise.
“At that time, parang pumasok sa ulo namin na hindi na kailangan namin mag effort. Sobrang confident namin, feel namin na hindi makakahabol yung ibang teams. Tapos yun nga, nawala na lahat yon nung natalo kami. Tinakbo namin sa isip namin na bagong team na kami. Hindi na kami yung BOOM na nagdo-dominate sa early stages ng EWC.”
New BOOM, New Mentality
And while they’re still one of the best teams in the country, there’s benefits to being overlooked by the competition. “Masarap din ng feeling na hindi na kami tinitingnan ng mga ibang teams,” continued BOOM Esports; Impressive.
“Parang yung Blacklist yung pumalit sa amin. Andami naayos namin, andaming practice na nagawa. Nag back to zero kami. Sobrang laking tulong yun nung natalo kami.”
One of the things they’ve been working on is building better chemistry with the team. It’s an aspect that Impressive believes Blacklist has over them and is the reason why they’ve been so dominant in the PKL. The team has made more effort to spend time bonding together, and it looks like it’s paying off.
“Before, parang everyday laro lang ginagawa namin, halos walang bonding. Inisip namin na laro lang kailangan namin, hindi na kailangan yung mga bagay outside the game,” admitted BOOM Esports’ Impressive. “So nag-fit naman [yung bonding] sa ginagawa namin everyday. Simula na ginawa namin yon, parang wala na halos nagkakahiyaan. Nagsasalita na kami sa isa’t-isa, yung parang normal lang. Ito yung isa sa pinakamalaking naidagdag sa amin.”
Banner photo by Ramon Domingo.