Mitch Liwanag credited ECHO Proud, the development squad of ECHO, for the team’s recent success in the MPL Philippines Season 11 after the latter served as their only sparring partner throughout the season.
Liwanag revealed that ECHO has only scrimmaged with their development team since the M4 World Championship, and no other team.
“They [ECHO Proud] are MPL caliber. Simula M4, the reason why we won is yung help nung MDL team namin. Sila lang, kaya nila makipag-tapatan dito sa Team 1 namin,” said Liwanag after ECHO claimed its first MPL Philippines title on Sunday night.
“Never kami nakipag-scrim sa labas, sa kanila lang until now. Sila pa rin yung ka-scrim namin so thank you so much [sa] MDL team namin.”
ECHO repeated over Blacklist International in the Season 11 grand finals, claiming a lopsided 4-0 win at the SMX Convention Center en route to their first-ever championship in franchise history.
Two weeks ago, ECHO Proud won the inaugural MDL Philippines title after defeating amateur squad GameLab via a 3-1 win.
ECHO’s development squad is composed of former reserves Jhonville “OUTPLAYED” Villar, Jankurt “KurtTzy” Matira, Jaypee “Jaypee” Dela Cruz, James “Jeymz” Gloria, Justine “Zaida” Palma, and Renz “Seichu” Lope.
Archie “Tictac” Reyes, the head coach of ECHO, echoed what Liwanag said and shared that the team was able to shuffle their hero combinations in scrimmages with the help of ECHO Proud.
“Sobrang laking tulong nung MDL team namin. Usually, yun nga kami kami lang yung nagiiscrim so naiikot namin lahat ng mga heroes. Kumbaga, na-e-experiment naman lahat ng pwedeng combinations sa totong game nila,” Tictac said.
“So worth it talaga sobra.”
