The Demon Slayer talent of the Jungle emblem tree has been a constant for junglers in the MPL Philippines Season Nine regular season.
Almost everyone from the eight-team field has already used the talent — save for ECHO star jungler Karl “KarlTzy” Nepomuceno.
But on Thursday night, the former M2 World Championship MVP finally gave in to the hype.
Playing against a tough Omega Esports side in the first round of the playoffs, KarlTzy used the Demon Slayer twice in the series. Unfortunately, the move did not pay dividends as the star-studded squad fell to the SMART-backed team in a lopsided fashion.
One particular question floated moments after ECHO’s shocking loss. Was the move a bit too late? Not exactly, said KarlTzy.
“Hindi naman late kasi panis naman sa akin lahat dun e,” said the 17-year-old jungler, who joined ECHO via buyout in the offseason.
KarlTzy even backed his statements, saying that ECHO had the upper hand in the early game in all three matches. Moreover, he also said that the team only dropped the ball during team fights which for him, cost them the series.
The former MPL champion used the Demon Slayer talent in both Games One and Three.
Playing Karina in the opener, ECHO took an early 3-0 advantage in the kills department while also putting up a 1.7K gold lead in the first four minutes of the contest. Then, in Game Two, ECHO had a 3-1 advantage in kills and a 1.6K lead in gold at the 2:45-mark.
“Sa true lang, talagang talo lang kami sa team fights pero overall lagi kaming lumalamang ng early pag naka jungle ako kaya ‘di ko masasabing late na yun kasi panis naman sila sa akin,” he explained.
KarlTzy also cleared that he had no problems using the jungle emblem. So, when his teammates suggested the change, he gladly obliged.
But for him, personally, it was not the most effective strategy for the team as ECHO thrives in an all-out pandemonium setup with KarlTzy wreaking havoc with the Killing Spree talent.
“Siguro gusto rin ng team ko yun. Okay naman sana, wala namang problema sa akin e basta ‘pag sinabi nila na mag ja-jungle lang ako, okay lang sakin,” shared the former Bren Esports star.
“Pero parang ‘di talaga yun yung META namin kasi madalas ako yung nagke-carry ng game kaya sobrang laki nung inadjust namin bago mag-playoffs. Nung scrim namin puro jungle emblem lang ako,” he added.
ECHO, who filled up with talent in the offseason following the acquisition of KarlTzy, Frediemar “3MarTzy” Serafico, and Tristan “Yawi” Cabrera, was the title favorites entering the season.
The team was able to live up to the hype, winning its first five games of the tournament. Everything turned sideways, unfortunately, when the team dropped its last three games of the regular season.
ECHO, who ended the tournament with four consecutive losses, ended its disappointing campaign at 5th-6th place.
