LvD Huntress’ dreams finally turned into reality last Thursday night.
After dominating the amateur scene in the past year, the Liloan, Cebu-based female squad was picked up by local esports giant Omega Esports for the upcoming Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League Women’s Invitational.
Team captain Mery “Meraaay” Vivero revealed that the team was elated to be part of the Smart-backed squad, which also houses different esports titles such as Tekken 7, Dota 2, Call of Duty Mobile, and League of Legends: Wild Rift.
“Amazed po kami talaga and very overwhelming po siya kasi hindi po namin in-expect na kukunin kami ng Omega,” said team captain Meraaay in an interview with Tiebreaker Times.
“Hindi po talaga namin in-expect kasi sumasali lang kami sa mga amateur tournaments, nag-champion tapos nandito na kami ngayon.”
The 17-year-old Meraay will be joined by Kaye “Keishi” Alpuerto, Rica “Amore” Amores, Sheen “Shinoa” Perez, and Fatima “Fibii” Taburnal while Coach Hans Bilonoac serves as the team’s head coach.
The LvD Huntress core proved to be one of the best female teams in the Philippines after bagging home the Liga Adarna Season Four championship last October. The team also competed in the UniPin Ladies Series and finished at 7th-8th place.
To repay the trust given by the organization, Meraaay and Bilonoac said that the team is doubling its preparation for the upcoming ML Women’s Invitational – arguably the biggest tournament for the women’s scene to date.
“Nasa amin po yung pressure kasi malaki po yung expectations sa amin.
“Pero ibibigay po talaga namin yung best namin para makapagpakita ng magandang laro. Looking forward din kami talaga na mabigyan namin ng magandang performance yung Smart Omega sa mga future tournaments,” said Meraaay.
“Pressured po talaga kasi kami po sa Cebu, parang lahat ng mga bisaya sumuporta na sa amin tapos kinuha pa kami ng Smart and international tournament pa yung laro namin,” coach Hans echoed.
Omega Empress, who will be representing the Philippines along with Bren Victress, will be square off against the top women’s teams in the region such as IDNS Princess of Laos, Impunity Scarlet of Cambodia, Lugiámi of Singapore, and Karra and On Air Pipol of Malaysia.
Indonesia’s representatives in the meet have yet to be determined, but Hans believes that any of the teams competing in the Woman Star League Season Four will be the Philippines’ biggest threat in the tournament.
“Pinaka magpapahirap talaga sa amin is yung Indonesia. May isang Indonesian team kami na ka-bracket yung first place raw pero ‘di pa alam kung sino kasi on-going pa yung tournament,” said the 23-year-old player-turned-coach.
Though the odds are stacked against them, Meraaay vowed that the team will go all out in the Women’s Invitational. Moreover, they are hoping to prove their doubters wrong as they gun for their first-ever international title.
“Bibigyan po namin sila ng magandang laban talaga and to prove na rin sa lahat na kaya rin ng Philippines,” bared Meraaay.
“Marami kasing nagsasabi na Indonesia lang yung makakapag-place, so gusto lang namin ipakita sa kanila na kaya namin makapagplace or maging champion dito sa tournament na ‘to representing Philippines.”
