Five Filipino esports personalities led by Joshua “Jusuave” Villamar unite for a new project called Tac Pause — a podcast where they deep dive into anything and everything VALORANT.
Consisting of Joshua “Jusuave” Villamar, Matthew Jose “Dadum” A. Duma, Andray “Salvatore” Rivera, Michaella “Mochii” Gonzales, and Lowell “Ell” Marcelo, the Tac Pause podcast goes live every Friday at 9 PM PHT on the hosts' respective Facebook pages and Jusuave's YouTube page.
Their debut episode already went up on Friday, April 5, 2024, where they created a pre-season power ranking of the teams competing in VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) 2024: Pacific Stage 1.
The Tac Pause podcast hosts consist of four shoutcasters and one coach. Jusuave recently shoutcasted in the VALORANT tournaments NAOS Dominator, Oasis KDR, and Dark League’s Rise of Agents. Dadum and Salvatore likewise have had multiple gigs in VALORANT as well as other Riot Games titles like League of Legends. Mochii is an award-winning shoutcaster and previously served as a VCT Pacific 2023 Filipino Broadcast talent. Last, but not least, Ell has coached for Geek Fam Philippines, China's VALORANT team JiJieHao, NAOS Esports, ZOL Esports, and Nexplay Evos.
Jusuave on Tac Pause's Inspirations
In an exclusive interview with ClutchPoints, Jusuave reveals he came up with Tac Pause a few months ago, inspired by other popular VALORANT podcasts like Plat Chat and TacticalRab.
“I realized we don't get much of this kind of content for Philippine esports, so I thought maybe it’d be cool to have something local,” Jusuave says.
Additionally, after brainstorming ideas late last year, Jusuave realized the Philippine VALORANT scene needs more exposure, and thus Tac Pause was needed.
“I remember there being a lot of [free agent] teams that weren’t getting much attention when they do deserve that kind of publicity,” he expressed in a mix of English and Filipino. “Teams like ZOL and OLD STINKY CAT in the VALORANT Challengers League – Philippines don’t get much coverage and I think they do deserve that spotlight especially since the challengers scene needs more eyes on it to help the scene flourish,” he continued.
As for how the name came out to be, Jusuave reveals that the podcast didn't have a name until the night before the recording of the pilot. He casually tells us the eureka moment happened as the team threw out name ideas in the air.
“We landed on Tac Pause [because] it sounds cool, and it makes sense [since] we’re talking about esports happenings as they come.”
The Future for Tac Pause
With Tac Pause, Jusuave envisions the podcast as more than just a source of entertainment and news for hardcore viewers of competitive VALORANT. It aims to cater to casual players and individuals who miss the action due to real-life commitments as well.
“I think it’s always going to be fun! The idea is to keep it going and make it something that people look forward to weekly!”
Furthermore, Jusuave mentions that Tac Pause is open to the possibility of dealing with other esports titles as well.
“I also wouldn’t shy away from talking about other esports, especially since we have so many esports events that are happening all at once. Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Development League – Philippines, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League Philippines, FARLIGHT 84 Philippines Championship among others,” Jusuave said. “But that’s probably gonna be further down the line for when we have more resources.”
With Tac Pause's pilot episode already up, Jusuave hopes more people tune in as the episodes go up and eventually attract other guests to be featured on the podcast.
“I’d love to pull in some other prominent people on the podcast, maybe some of the current VCT talents if they ever want to jump in for an episode or two!”
“We’ll be working to keep improving the podcast as we move forward for sure.”
If you're looking for a podcast to keep you up to date to VCT Pacific, then this one's for you.
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