"Who Run The World? Girls!" The POTU All Girls Tournament for League of Legends

As singing sensation Beyoncé once asked “Who run the world?” in her hit song “Run the World,” a virtually absolute “GIRLS!!” is answered with such affirmation.

In this case, that's what over a hundred of some of the country's finest female fatales have proven over the past few months during the P.O.T.U. All Girls Tournament, in a series of tournaments last 2015 at Wargods Morayta.

In a joint collaboration between gaming titan Wargods and rising esports entity Profilers of the Unknown or P.O.T.U. for short, two of the Philippines’ hottest names in the industry have come up with the country’s most massive all female tournament for the award-winning gaming title, League of Legends.

(photo credits to Wargods Gaming Arena)

Kristoffers Co, owner and co-founder of P.O.T.U. and a rising eSports manager in his own rite, first came up with the idea to showcase just what Pinay summoners are made of. With the cooperation of Wargods, this granted his organization the opportunity to realize what is now the P.O.T.U. All Girls Tournament. From what transpired as just an idea with so much to potential ultimately became a beacon that paved the way for female summoners to make their presence known in competitive esports.

Upon asking Co what drove him towards making the tournament a reality, he replied confidently: 

"No one was bold and daring enough to organize such a tournament. From where I stand, I see tons of potential just waiting to be discovered amongst our pool of female players in the local League of Legends scene. It's just unfortunate that they haven't been given the chance to showcase, that is, until we decided to launch the P.O.T.U. All Girls Tournament."

- Kristoffers Co, P.O.T.U.

True to Co’s vision to organize and host a tournament that will showcase what talent the local scene has, the tournament saw more than a hundred female players take the spotlight to prove themselves worthy of making their presence known in the competitive scene. Not only did the tournament shed light to some of the more veteran female players in the scene, but it also paved the way to teams discovering fresh new talent amongst their peers.

Seraphynx: SPX Suzzysaur, SPX Yiscah, SPX Diyosa, SPX Homy, and SPX Praesidia 

(photo credits to Team Seraphynx)

A systematized points system was created with teams having duked it out during the months of August to December 2015. Similar to the structure followed for Piltover’s Finest (formerly the Challenger Circuit), the top teams that garner the most points within the said period shall proceed to the prestigious finals to take place during the hotly anticipated Wargods Expo 2.0. 

After months of intensive battles fought, spectators at the Wargods Arena in Morayta witnessed just how competitive and talented our local female players are. In an awe-striking twist, players who seemed cute and innocent turned into ferocious warriors while as soon as the in-game announcer welcomed players onto Summoner’s Rift.

In the end, four teams emerged victorious towards the conclusion of the series. Topping the ladder is the all-star powerhouse team, TNC Wildcats, garnering a smashing total of 63 points. Coming in second is what was then formerly known as Team Redemption, but after a few roster changes, they’ve rebranded with a whole new rhythm to their step as they now don the name Seraphynx with 40 points. In a very close third and fourth are the fierce ladies of Crimson Lotus with 33 points and the rising stars of Kaotzy Vixens with 32 points to spare that ultimately grants them the final spot towards competing in the finals.

We got the chance to talk to the lovely Racquel “P A I N” Abaigar, Jungler of the Kaotzy Vixens, on how she feels about having made it to the Big Four to compete in the finals. With great enthusiasm, she said: 

"It's all worth it because so many legs went by. Issues may have arose, quite a lot in fact, and yet we managed to overcome them as a team. Since we weren't able to be with our captain during the third leg, it came to a point wherein we lost. Not only just our captain, but our coach as well. Even in the succeeding legs, sure we may have encountered issues with bracketing technicalities during the tournament, sure we may have even encountered an unfortunate accidental mishap with one of our members. Yet in the end? All the hard work and sacrifices of our team paid off because we made it to the Top 4."

- Racquel "P A I N" Abaigar, Kaotzy Vixens

Not only just the players, but even some of the people that were behind-the-scenes had high hopes for the future of female players in competitive e-sports.

Getting in touch with shoutcaster throughout the legs of the tournament, Shin Boo “GS Sh1n Boo” Ponferrada had insights of his own towards the conclusion of the P.O.T.U. All Girl Tournament legs:

“The Pinay talent in our local scene is on simple words: competitively sufficient and at the moment is dependent. Competitively sufficient on the idea that I believe they could, and in fact are, going toe to toe with the usual up to semi-pro teams who regularly participate in tournaments. Whereas "dependent" on the idea that the ability of play for girl teams right now depends on their environment and support system. 

A lot of girl teams have tons of coaches, backers, and supporters as I see it. Be it with because they are girls that they get some sort of favors from members of the community. I know there has been issues here and there, but such scenarios helps breed the ladies to become competitive. That's why an All Girl Tournament would and is really nice if you compare it to nothing. If the girl teams, and the community as well, dropped all the unnecessary issue, stuff, and attitudes, then we would have a faster flourishing eSports scene.”

- Shin Boo "GS Sh1n Boo" Ponferrada

TNC Wildcats as they celebrate their victory in the Final Leg of the P.O.T.U. All Girls Tournament

(photo credits to Wargods Gaming Arena)

What Wargods and P.O.T.U. created in the form of the P.O.T.U. All Girls Tournament just might be the start towards paving the way to boosting the competitive image of female players and granting them the opportunity to pursue eSports in a dominantly male industry.

Nonetheless, as we look at the present, what lies ahead for the four teams is a final bout which will settle once and for all which female team shall reign victorious and stand proud at the end of it all.

Join us as we follow the journey of our Final Four teams to the Wargods Expo 2.0 and find out WHO shall become the very first P.O.T.U. All Girls Tournament Finals Champion here at OtakuPlay PH!