MANILA, Philippines – The battle for the $3 million prize pool in DOTA 2’s Manila Major officially kicked off at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City on Tuesday, June 7.

Also known as The Spring Major, the Manila Major is a premium DOTA 2 tournament organized by Valve, the popular online game’s developer. This is the third in its Dota Championship series and the first Valve-sanctioned tournament in Manila. (READ: ‘The Manila Major: What it is, where to watch‘ )

As early as 8:00 am, gamers, cosplayers and DOTA 2 players from all over the country flocked to the venue to watch 16 of the best teams from around the world compete in a 6-day tournament.

Crowd went wild when Na'Vi entered the arena! #ManilaMajor LIVE: https://t.co/fYQqWLwNK9 pic.twitter.com/K6hFt2Z5Ug

— Rappler (@rapplerdotcom) June 7, 2016

Opening the tournament were intense matches between Team Liquid and MVP Phoenix, Na’Vi and OG, Wings Gaming and compLexity, Alliance and Mineski, Evil Genius and Vici Gaming, and Team Empire and Team Secret.

Day one results

Here are the results as of 11:50 pm:

The first match of the day was a best-of-three series between Europe’s Team Liquid and South Korean powerhouse MVP Phoenix. The match ended with a brutal sweep by MVP Phoenix, 2-0.

Meanwhile, the crowd favorite Natus Vincere (Na’Vi) failed to live up to the hype as they lost 2-0 to the Frankfurt Majors champion, OG. 

Alliance wins! Mineski has been eliminated. #ManilaMajor LIVE: https://t.co/fYQqWLwNK9 pic.twitter.com/sPaQfDdTyU

— Rappler (@rapplerdotcom) June 7, 2016

Wings Gaming, the Philippines’ homegrown team Mineski, Evil Geniuses, and Team Secret were all eliminated on the first day after losing to compLexity, Alliance, Vici Gaming Reborn, and Team Empire, respectively.

Are you a Dota 2 fan? Who do you think will win? Tell us in the comments! – Rappler.com