BluBLOC dominates Minecraft Nationals with record 9 trophies; Sarmiento crowned Nat'l JHS Minecraft Champ

Composed of Ateneo de Manila Junior High School (AJHS) and Senior High School (ASHS) players, the Ateneo BluBLOC Minecraft and Lego varsity made history at the 2026 Philippine National Minecraft Education Competition, held on 7 March 2026 at the Miriam Innovation Hub (Henry Sy, Sr. Innovation Center) in Quezon City.

The Ateneans claimed a record-breaking nine diamond-shaped trophies—the most the school has ever won in a single edition. AJHS students dominated across categories, with Simon Sarmiento (8-Cornelius) winning the JHS Research & Innovation Individual title. His victory also secured a three-peat for AJHS in the individual category.

Ateneo also took 2nd and 3rd place in the category, with Toby Acosta (7-Ashley) and Ian Auto (9-Garate) respectively. This marked the first time any school has achieved a full sweep of the individual category. 

In the Research & Innovation group category, the team of Daylight Ibay (8-Fugishima), Gelo Javier (8-Ferreres), and Klaus Mondejar (7-Ashley) placed 2nd for their reimagined Tubbataha Reef Ranger Station. They were joined on the podium by the group of BluBLOC captain Dylan Lim (9-Gelabert), Gab Feliciano (9-Gelabert) & Dru Bugaoan (7-Baena), which placed third for creating Deep Dive, an educational Minecraft world which aims to teach students about the seven principles of ocean literacy.

Ateneo also excelled in the Mission Quest timed obstacle course challenge, securing 2nd place with Enrique Jambalos (8-Claver), Joaquin Reyes (8-Cornelius) & Xian Palisoc (8-Ferreres), and 3rd place with Aidan Cabaya (9-Kisai), Marcus Crisostomo (8-Chabanel) & Migo Mañalac (8-Del Castillo).

In the Coding Hackathon, the Senior High team of Hanns Bumatay (11-Fontoura), Ethan Hizon (11-Perez), & AJ Mendaros (11-Garnet) secured 2nd place in the SHS division, while the Junior High team of Marc Tiongson (8-Francisco), Gab Asuncion (9-Gelabert) & Cubby Falgui (8-Collins) earned 3rd place in the JHS division.

This year’s competition also marked a milestone for the team. For the first time, AJHS BluBLOC fielded a co-educational roster, with Lara Bumatay (7-Aranha) and Claire Siazon (7-Bobola) becoming the pioneer female BluBLOC students. Fittingly during Women’s Month, they competed in the Research & Innovation category alongside their male teammates.

The 6th edition of the Nationals featured its largest revamp yet, introducing two new categories— Mission Quest and Coding Hackathon—  alongside the well-established Research & Innovation category. Fifteen schools competed, tackling challenges ranging from ocean-themed research projects and Minecraft builds to timed team obstacle courses and coding-based construction. In the Research & Innovation category, students were tasked to “Protect the Oceans,” creating solutions for marine wildlife and coastal communities in Minecraft before presenting their work to a panel of academics and engineers.

“This year’s results show that our players can adapt and excel, even with new and unpredictable challenges,” said BluBLOC coaches Jason Arias, Lavi Subang, and Joel Falgui. “The expanded categories allowed more members to showcase their strengths, and we couldn’t be prouder of their performance.”

With the national competition behind them, BluBLOC now sets its sights on international online competitions, including the Australian FUSE Cup Minecraft Challenge and the NASEF Rube Goldberg Minecraft Challenge, both scheduled for April 2026.