The two-day Vibes Asian Championship at the YGG Play Summit concluded on Saturday, November 22, with John Fitzgerald “Oxtraxex” Poculan of Web3 gaming guild 8888 defeating guildmate Jerald Jay “Asamax” Pamiloza in a tense final. A total of 77 players competed in Manila for a share of the US$20,000 prize pool, with Oxtraxex taking home US$4,000 in the first Asian championship for Orange Cap Games’ trading card game (TCG) featuring the Pudgy Penguins IP.
After 10 straight wins, Asamax faced Oxtraxex, who outplayed his counterdeck and claimed a decisive victory. The final was cast by YGG Esports player Feno and Orange Cap Games co-founder Elliot Kahn.
Oxtraxex traveled from Zamboanga Sibugay for his first competitive TCG experience. He had never played the physical version of Vibes, though he had been actively playing online since Season 0, which launched in December 2024.
The tournament saw the best players from the Philippines and Asia, with many Filipino competitors having already faced each other in YGG Pilipinas community tournaments. Joining Oxtraxex and Asamax in the top 8 were Hearthstone pros CaraCute and Staz, who both also competed in Ubisoft’s Might & Magic: Fates’ first-ever tournament at YGG Play Summit, as well as competitive Magic: The Gathering players Eton Delmoro, MoisesOng, and Cholo Pascual.
The tournament featured a Swiss+1 format and up to 12 proxies, substitutes for cards that are too rare or costly, keeping power levels balanced for the event. After the first day of competition, the top 8 players advanced to the final stage, where they competed in a single-elimination tournament to determine the champion. The top 32 players were included in the prize pool:
- 1st place: US$4,000
- 2nd place: US$2,000
- 3rd-4th place: US$1,400
- 5th-8th place: US$800
- 9th-16th place: US$500
- 17th-32nd place: US$250
The entire event was officiated by Magic: The Gathering Premier Judge, Sashi Balakrishnan from Malaysia.
In Vibes, players build “huddles” of penguin characters, action cards, and relics to battle opponents. The game is designed to be accessible to newcomers, while offering enough strategic depth and variety to appeal to fans of popular card games such as Magic: The Gathering, Disney Lorcana, and One Piece.
Orange Cap Games’ Elliot Kahn presented Oxtraxex as the champion. The top 8 players from the Vibes Asian Championship are also invited to compete at the Vibes 2025 World Championship, scheduled to take place at SCG CON Portland on January 23-26, 2026.
“The warm welcome that the Vibes team has received from everyone in Manila has just been nuts,” said Kahn. “We had this tiny print run of 15,000 boxes of the first set, and just to see the insane reception we got across the world, it’s crazy coming here and seeing the excitement in Manila. We can’t thank YGG enough for helping make this tournament happen.”
The YGG Play Summit also featured two other high-profile esports tournaments. The US$100,000 YGG Parallel Showdown saw former Hearthstone pro Viper emerge victorious after battling against top players from around the world. The esports debut of Ubisoft’s Might & Magic: Fates was won by YGG Esports player Tyler.
Outside of esports, the Summit’s Town Hall stage featured leaders including Sky Mavis’ Jihoz, OpenSea’s Oliver Maroney, Pixels’ Luke Barwikowski, and Gunzilla Games’ Theodore Agranat, who shared insights on the latest developments in the industry.
GAM3S.GG‘s GAM3 Awards returned for the second year in a row, with Gunzilla’s Off The Grid taking five awards, including Game of the Year. Mythical Games’ Pudgy Party, a mobile multiplayer game that also features the Pudgy Penguins IP, won Best Mobile Game and Best Casual Game.
The Summit’s City of Play expo spanned four districts. The Arena focused on competitive play, the Player District offered playable demos of top Web3 games, and the Degen District catered to crypto-native gamers. The Skill District, led by YGG’s educational arm Metaversity, hosted upskilling events such as the Base-sponsored Prompt to Prototype vibe coding workshop, teaching aspiring game builders no-code programming using AI.
