MPL-PH: Upsetmania runs wild in Day 2 of Week 4

It literally became a sweeping Saturday last April 13th as Day 2 of the 4th week of MPL Philippines Season 13 became one for the record books.

 

First off, ONIC Philippines showed why fans and their opponents should acknowledge them as they ended reigning MPL PH and world champions AP Bren’s streak in a 2-0 fashion, putting the 1 in the Bees’ 6-1 win-loss record.

Head coach Tony “Ynot” Senedrin says, this win is attributed to making AP Bren overthink about their next move. 

“I don’t wanna assume but it looked like Bren was overthinking over our victories. And perhaps that was the difference – mindset. We went in that our mindset was to do where we were strongest. So we executed it. It showed in the results,” Coach Ynot said.

The Franco pick by Jomari “Escalera” Santos proved to be the difference maker in game 1, and the Sonics ended the encounter quickly in game 2, thanks to Frince “Super Frince” Ramirez’s lord steal coupled with a triple. 

The Sonics will then face ECHO today in their highly-anticipated rematch, with the Sonics looking to finish the story against the only team so far that had dealt them a loss.

Meanwhile, another stone cold stunner came in the form of Minana EVOS sweeping ECHO, 2-0, in their Saturday encounter.

The Hukbo was able to defeat the Orcas with Brian “Spider-Milez” Sanchez at the helm, with the roamer recording a 7.5 KDA for both games without having a single death.

In the 12-minute game 1, Dominic “Domeng” del Mundo and his Natan pick rose for the Hukbo as he popped off in the mid-game despite ECHO’s Justine “Zaida” Palma’s triple turtle take.

This Natan delivered seven kills and three assists in the 10-4 Game 1 win for Minana.

By the second game which lasted 17 minutes, the M4 World Champions were completely dominated by Minana EVOS in an 8-2 low-score kill fight.

When asked about how the White Tigers made their attitude adjustment, head coach Christian “Bitoy” Casten answered, “the reason why we won was we were able to follow up on our practices, bans, pickings. What our opponents’ hero picks were, we already have a quick answer.”

In another twist of fate in that Saturday triple-header, Smart Omega’s search for a second dub was turned into broken dreams by a resurgent RSG Philippines, 2-0.

The Raiders smelled what the Barangay was cooking as the Raiders overpowered Omega, despite the latter fielding their all-veteran bloodline of Nowee “Ryota” Macasa, Carlito “Ribo” Ribo, Jomari “Jowm” Pingol, John Paul “H2WO” Salonga and their newest midlane enforcer Jayson “Ukir” Alupit.

This was Patrick “rTzy” Lim’s first outing with the Raiders, and in his S13 debut, he fielded a Novaria pick that scored 5 kills and 17 assists in a 22-7 thrashing that left Omega without a turret, turtle, and Lord.

By the second game, RSG turned into ring generals as they made a spotless 11-0 game against the Barangay, with rTzy and Clarense “Kusey” Camilo taking down Ribo inside Omega’s base.

Despite the win in Game 1 though, RSG PH head coach Brian “Panda” Lim said they had to do a bit of damage control to upset what he believed were mistakes that could have turned into losses.

“All my happiness in the early to mid game faded. I may have a negative attitude about it, but I have high expectations from my players,” Coach Panda told reporters.

Kusey then shared that their wise man reminded them to stay-level headed about the game.

“Coach Panda reminded us to not be hot-headed and show discipline in-game,” Kusey told reporters in their post-match media scrum about Panda’s advice in the dugout before their masterclass in Game 2.

TNC and Minana EVOS will face off against each other for the second time today, while Blacklist International will face off against AP Bren as well today.