Here at VRSUS, we were always curious about what it’s like to be part of an esports ecosystem and have our name represented in competitions and such. Last week, we finally decided to dip our toes into the competitive waters of Tekken 8 to see what it was like. Tekken 8 is the most popular fighting game in the country and is considered one of the more accessible esports to get into.

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The esports ecosystem of fighting games is quite different because of the nature of the genre. Being primarily a solo competition, its esports elements revolve around many tournaments held nationwide by various companies or organizations and differ in scale. Sometimes, these are big, recurring monthly affairs like Rumble Royale’s Tryhard Tournament series, with at least a PHP 15,000 prize pool attracting hundreds of Tekken 8 players from around the metro. Other times, they are side events of conventions like the Geek+Pop Super Turbo Round 2. Last weekend, both events were happening, so we figured that it might be a good time.

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The player we collaborated with to represent VRSUS for the weekend is a player from Bacolod named Raphael Cueva, more popularly known in the local scene as Vermilion – arguably the best Devil Jin specialist in the country. He used to play Tekken professionally, having been part of The Nationals as one of the players representing Cignal Ultra. He was considered one of the best players in the league at that time. He even represented the country in the International Esports Federation tournament for Tekken 7, where he placed 5th. He was also a former streamer and was one of the first Filipinos to be a Twitch partner, so he’s no stranger to making content. We’ve also made a couple of helpful reels during his stay here in Manila, so watch out for those!

Vermilion has been out of the competitive scene for some time now, ever since the Nationals League was dissolved. He decided to return to Bacolod to prioritize his family and career. Despite being far from all the action, he was still able to contribute to the growth of the local Tekken community. Alongside his former teammate, Jam “Naturelover” San Juan, they founded a team named “Ataraxia,” intending to nurture their members into strong competitors within the thriving Philippine Tekken community. This initiative became increasingly relevant with the heightened popularity of the series following the launch of Tekken 8.

What hasn’t changed over the years, though, is his competitive drive and love for the game (having played the series for around two decades now). He was happy to agree to our idea of having him represent VRSUS for the weekend.

So we flew him over and off to the first order of business on Saturday – the Rumble Royale Tryhards.

Day 1 – Rumble Royal Tryhards Tekken 8 Tournament

This tournament has been filling the competitive need of local Tekken players ever since REV Major – the country’s biggest annual fighting event, was gone. Thus, ever since its start this year, it has been drawing in all of the talented Tekken 8 players in Manila, and throughout the months, it has made some of them local household names because of how often they get into the Top 8.

Another interesting thing about this tournament is it awards Tekken World Tour (TWT) points. The Top 20 of the TWT Leaderboard will qualify for the TWT Championship in December, the game’s official World Championship. Now, these points are useless for 99.9% of the players who compete in Tryhards because you need like 1000+ points to even break into the Top 20, which means traveling regularly around the world to compete in the major tournaments and placing well in each of them. Most big, popular esports organizations invest in these, though, as having a skilled, renowned player represent their brand boosts their international visibility.

For this Tryhards in particular, though, it mattered for exactly one player who registered for the tournament. Thailand’s best Tekken player and former EVO Champion Nopparut “Book” Hempamor from TALON Esports is currently sitting at 26th place with 920 points and is on the brink of breaking into the Top 20 if he can grab the 100 TWT points for winning here. So he, uh… booked his flight to the Philippines, and suddenly, you have one of the best players in the world knocking at your local tournament.

Thankfully, TALON Book wasn’t in the same bracket as VRS Vermilion in the preliminary rounds. However, our player’s bracket is STACKED with some of the best local talents that have made their names known in the past year by making regular top 8 appearances at various tournaments around Manila. Throughout his pool, VRS Vermilion faced off against AAE TFX VB Juker, N4K RGN, and 9TZ Kurento Vinsmoke in close matches to clutch that Top 8 spot in the Winners Bracket.

It’s also cool to see the VRS tag when his matches are streamed – we really felt that VRSUS is in esports now!

On the other pool, TALON Book has been sweeping undefeated through his bracket and landed on the Top 8 Winners side as well… as our first Top 8 match!

And it was a quick and rough 0-2 against the TWT Championship hopeful. VRS Vermilion had to climb out of the Top 8 Losers side and avoid elimination to get a rematch, hopefully. And he did, defeating eightmethods Melos 2-1, 20V Siopao 2-0, and fellow former The Nationals competitor eightmethods Gold_Standard 3-0!

Unfortunately, the rematch against TALON Book was still as rough as ever as he swept VRS Vermilion again in the Grand Finals 3-0.

VRS Vermilion’s journey through a challenging pool of Top 8 regulars culminated in a remarkable 2nd place finish with a character often overlooked as underpowered in the current metagame. To top it off, his signature stylish combos and comebacks captivated the audience when featured on-stream, making this tournament run an incredibly monumental win for both him and VRSUS!

Day 2 – Geek+Pop Super Turbo Round 2 Tekken 8 Tournament

The next day, we headed off to the Geek+Pop Super Turbo Round 2 convention for their Tekken 8 tournament. As expected, Book was also there to grab another 100 TWT points. Vermilion’s bracket was more manageable this time, as he swept through the competition without a loss, ending in another Top 8 Winners side finish. Book, too, was doing more of the same and ended up in the Top 8 Winners side as well… and is our first Top 8 match for the second time that week!

However, the rematch wasn’t meant to be as excited as Vermilion was for the runback. The Top 8 playoff schedule was delayed late in the evening, and by that time, he had to get back to the airport for his return flight. Still, it was another great run!

This esports thing is fun, and if everything goes well, we might dip our toes into it a little deeper.

Until the next battle!

Interested in solo esports like Tekken 8? Check out our article below!

Here Are 3 Great Solo Esports Titles That You Can Compete In Without Needing A Team – VRSUS