While only temporary, it’s an all-new experience for the young Jungler.
Virtus.pro Andoryu finds himself in a unique position playing as a stand-in for the well-known Armenian esports organization. While it’s not uncommon for Filipino MLBB players to be loaned to other teams, it is uncommon for a team outside of Southeast Asia to be the ones asking for the loan.
Andrew “Andoryu” Flora was called in after Virtus.pro’s original Jungler, Zaur “zaur egoist” Magomadov, was deemed ineligible to play at MSC 2025 due to his age. This meant that Anodryu was now flying to Riyadh, playing for a foreign team with foreign teammates, in a tournament he didn’t originally qualify for.
While the team did have time to prepare and practice with each other, this still happened rather fast. Synergy is always the number one concern for teams like these, but luckily, Virtus.pro hit it off just fine.
“Hindi ko alam kung isang araw o dalawa pero sa first day lang, nakuha na namin yung chemistry at timpla,” said Virtus.pro Andoryu. “Tapos sa experience na yung kakampi ko ay puro foreigner, masaya kasi lalo lumalawak yung knowledge ko. Di lang sa laro kundi sa mga outside things tulad ng salita.”
That chemistry was clear to see since the team qualified for the MSC 2025 group stage through the Wildcard tournament. It also helps that Virtus.pro bootcamped in the Philippines to better prepare themselves for the competition. It’s here that Andoryu and the team really got to know each other and built their synergy from there.
“Una, tinuruan ko sila ng mga masamang salita para maiwasan nila kasi lagi nila naririnig yon sa social media,” said Virtus.pro Andoryu with a smile. “Hindi ko talaga nakita yung reaction nila sa pagdating sa Manila… Sila yung may reaction sa akin kasi yung tingin nila sa akin ay may attitude tapos ma-pride. Nung nalaman nila yung pagkatao ko, dun kami naging confident kaya hindi ako masyadong nag-adjust.”
A Different Level of Competition
Heading to MSC 2025 is still quite a big leap for Andoryu, considering that his last international tournament was the 2024 Snapdragon Pro Series Challenge Finals. He and his team, Omega Esports, had a disappointing run since they didn’t make it out of the group stage. This year was even harsher on Andoryu as Omega finished last in the MPL PH S15 regular season.
By all accounts, Andoryu was nowhere close to making it to MSC this year. Some would even say that he doesn’t deserve the spot. But here he is now and doing quite well for himself with a foreign team. The fact that Andoryu is playing in one of the biggest MLBB tournaments of the year is a blessing, and he has a rather pragmatic outlook on the situation.
“Sa MSC ngayon, parang wala ako nafe-feel kasi parang extra lang ako,” said Virtus.pro Andoryu. “Kumbaga ginagawa ko yung pangarap ng mga kakampi ko [sa Virtus.pro] kasi, first of all, sa kanila naman to. Tinutulungan ko lang sila at masaya ako na nakakatulong ako sa kanila.”
As for himself, MSC has been a learning experience. And while he still has the rest of the tournament ahead of him, Andoryu has already picked up a few lessons on this journey.
“Yung biggest lesson natutunan ko ay kailangan ko mag-mature pa ng lalo. Kasi kahit sa MPL PH hindi ko masyadong ma-guide yung teammates ko ingame. Kumbaga kailangan ko pa ng experience para matulungan ko yung team ko.”
Banner photo from Virtus.pro.