UBECMANIAC huddled up for a prayer during the CrossFire ACL 2025 | Facebook photo from UBECMANIAC
LAPU-LAPU CITY, Cebu — Cebuano CrossFire team UBECMANIAC secured a semifinals finish in Shanghai, China after the two-day CrossFire Asian Champions League (ACL) 2025 concluded on Saturday, May 17.
It was a bittersweet feeling for the Cebuanos competing at the CrossFire ACL 2025 as they secured a semifinals finish in Shanghai. At the semifinals, UBECMANIAC lost to the second-seeded team from China, Evolution Power, 2-1 in their best-of-three series.
It was a close series overall during the semifinal matchup between UBECMANIAC and Evolution Power.
The first game at Black Widow initially went well for the Cebuano squad as they finished three rounds ahead, 6-3, prior to the halftime switch. However, Evolution Power went on a 7-1 winning streak during their turn as the Black List, thereby ending the game 10-7 in favor of the Chinese team.
UBECMANIAC then tied the series, 1-1, after they won the second game on their map pick, Sub Base, 10-7.
Despite being UBECMANIAC’s signature map, it seemed to be anybody’s game at Sub Base as the first half ended in a close score of 5-4 in favor of the Cebuano CrossFire team. Fortunately, UBECMANIAC never allowed Evolution Power to overtake their lead as they went on a 5-3 run in the second half as the Global Risk.
With the series tied 1-1, the Chinese representatives from Evolution Power would ultimately be the ones to proceed to the grand finals as they won the third and final game on Eagle Eye 2.0 in a dominant 10-6 fashion.
Despite losing in the semifinals, it was a pretty impressive run for UBECMANIAC in Shanghai. In fact, en route to the semifinals, the Cebuano CrossFire team eliminated the top-seeded team from China, KINGZERO-eSports, in a 2-0 sweep.
UBECMANIAC’s roster consists of Ar “Jjhae” Bacus, Ken “kLb” Belgida, Kent “kLp” Pegarro, Christopher “Kano” Robinson, Jaylord “LOYY” Pasulot, and Randolf “Dolf” Marquez, with Francis “Tankz” Catangay serving as the team’s coach.
Together with China’s third-seeded team All Gamers, UBECMANIAC will be taking home a cash prize of $10, 000 or about P558, 000 as the third-fourth place finishers of the CrossFire Asian Champions League 2025.
Meanwhile, Evolution Power lost in the grand finals against fellow Chinese team BaiSha Gaming. They will each receive $20,000 and $40,000, respectively, while BaiSha Gaming qualifies for the Esports World Cup 2025.