Predator League Philippines 2024 Team Rebuild Neon Esports

The path to greatness is never so straightforward

Predator League Philippines 2024 Team Rebuild Neon Esports: The path to greatness is never so straightforward.

Neon Esports Team Captain Ryan Jay “Raging Potato” Qui has probably seen it all in Dota 2. One of the most esteemed and veteran players of the Philippine pro scene, Raging Potato (also known by his other aliases of “Jay” or “Bimbo”) has been part of multiple teams and organizations throughout his professional career. And throughout his career, he has experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows the game has to offer.

Alongside him is another veteran in the scene: Wong “ChuaN” Hok Chuan, the current coach of Neon Esports. ChuaN has the rare prestige of being called “The International Champion.” His former team, Invictus Gaming, cinched its first and only aegis back in 2012.

The two are given the task to rebuild the once mighty Neon Esports. The team, best known for nurturing the next generation of Filipino talents such as Andrei “skem” Ong and Erin “Yopaj” Ferrer, has fallen from their peak form in 2021. Ever since the departure of their roster that did an incredible underdog run in 2021, the team has found it hard to find its footing. These past two years have been quite shaky for the organization, seeing it relegated to Division 2 and even fumbling out of the DPC altogether (and failing to rejoin it via the Open Qualifiers).

But still, the organization marches on.

The team has put its faith on these two veterans to return them to the top of the Philippine (and to an even further extent the Southeast Asian) scene.

“Mahirap talaga mag rebuild. Pero sanay naman na kami. Ang importante ay makagawa ng maayos na team roster na may malakas na synergy,” Raging Potato said.

(“Team rebuilds are really hard. But we’re used to it. What’s important is we form a team that has strong synergy,” Raging Potato said.)

While the chaos of the Dota 2 Offseason is still ongoing, and with no final roster set yet for the upcoming season, the team decided to recruit several veterans to fill their slots for the upcoming Predator League Philippines 2024.

Rejoining the team after brief stints in Bleed Esports and Myth Avenue Gaming, Prieme Ejay “Playhard” Maque returns to the team as their Position 4. Lee “CDR” Jia He, a position 1 carry who last played for Team SMG, will be standing in for the team. And without a set position 5 support yet, coach ChuaN himself will be stepping up to fill the role. Retained from the previous roster, Argle “Ken” C. Llesis will be the team’s position 2, with Raging Potato occupying the 3 position.

There is no doubt that this team is stacked with a lot of individual talent. However, the competition is stiff in the upcoming Predator League Philippines 2024 Dota 2 Finals. To start off, Neon Esports will be fighting off against the Filipino stack Smurfers in a best of three. Should

they emerge victorious in their best of three against them, they will be facing off against the winners of the InterActive Philippines/Made in Philippines. The team that emerges victorious shall represent the Philippines in the upcoming Predator League APAC Finals.

Team Rebuilds, an initiative of Predator League 2023, aims to showcase the difficulties and turmoils of a team’s roster changes. The esports competitive scene is one that is always in flux, whether it be the game’s dominant meta or a team’s chemistry and composition. It takes a quick and thorough understanding of the meta, an immense strong team chemistry, and a bit of luck to capture a once in a lifetime victory over other aspiring teams. Predator League Philippines 2023 is the next event wherein these teams will need all three in order to secure the Predator Shield.