By: Arjohn Roxas
Aurora fended off Smart Omega’s reverse sweep attempt with a hard-fought 2-1 victory in Week 4 of MPL Philippines Season 16, Saturday at the Green Sun Hotel in Makati City.
The Northern Lights improved to a league-best 6-1 record, while Omega slipped to 2-5.
After dropping the second game, Coach Aniel “Master the Basics” Jiandani explained why they took a different approach compared to the first two games.
“Nung Game 1, nasunod yung plano namin. Then siyempre dahil nagwork, di namin siya binago nung Game 2. Pero na-execute ng OMEGA yung tingin kong prinactice nila. Hinanda nila talaga yung ganong strat so kailangan naming i-adjust, kase kung uulitin lang namin yung game 2 tingin ko mas magkakaron sila lalo ng advantage,” he said.
In Game 1, Aurora dictated the tempo from start to finish, giving up only two outer turrets while amassing an 11k gold lead by the 14-minute mark.
Omega managed to drag the game to 18 minutes, but a clutch Lord steal from Edward “Edward” Dapadap (Terizla) and a sneaky split push from John “Demonkite” Caranto (Yi Sun Shin) secured the win.
Omega responded in Game 2, flipping the script and limiting Aurora to just three kills while racking up 16 of their own.
Sticking with the same draft but removing Aurora’s Granger proved to be the key adjustment, as Omega dominated and wrapped up the match in under 15 minutes.
In the decisive Game 3, Aurora’s macro-heavy playstyle once again proved decisive. Despite a dead-even kill score, they built a 7k gold lead by the 12-minute mark through superior wave management.
With Domengkite (Harith) left unchecked, Aurora maintained relentless pressure and closed out the game in 20 minutes.
Aurora will now aim to exact revenge against Team Falcons on Friday, September 19.
