BREN Esports survived a huge scare, while Sunsparks took down its arch-rival to advance to the upper bracket finals of the Mobile Legends Bang Bang Professional League-Philippines (MPL-PH) Season 5, Friday.
Entering the playoffs as the top-ranked team of the regular season, powerhouse BREN Esports found themselves in a tight tussle against fourth-seed Execration.
Despite falling behind in the early part of Game One, BREN was able to put up a come-from-behind victory to take a 1-0 advantage which Execration eventually tied in Game Two at 1-all.
Ch4knu (Grock) once again proved that he’s built for the big stage, invading BREN’s jungle continuously to give Execration the upper hand in the early minutes of the deciding Game Three.
Execration managed to put up a commanding 28,482 gold lead compared to BREN’s 21,403 in the nine-minute mark of the game, while also taking the lead in the kill department with a 10-5 score.
With the lord already on Execration’s side, the BREN side, composed of KarlTzy (Ling), Ribo (Angela), Lastii (Atlas), Coco (Carmilla), and Pheww (Kaja), was able to put up a huge defensive stand in the middle lane, erasing E2MAX (Selena), Z4pnu (Uranus), Hate (Lancelot), Bennyqt (Helcurt), and Ch4knu through a five-man wipe to even the scales.
After winning the clash, BREN slowly took control of the game with KarlTzy leading the way. But Execration did not give up just yet, with both Z4pnu and Ch4knu cutting the lanes to further extend the game.
However, BREN got its much-needed separation after Lastii outplayed Execration’s initiation by performing a four-man fatal link, leaving Z4pnu the last man standing while also putting an end to Execration’s tough stand.
KarlTzy finished with a monster stat line of 24 kills, 11 assists, and two deaths while Ribo led the supporting cast with three kills and a whopping 28 assists to tow BREN Esports to the upper bracket finals.
“Siguro [lamang] lang kami sa disiplina, saka sa decision making at experience na lang din po kaya kami naka-lamang sa kanila,” said Karl “KarlTzy” Nepomuceno moments after their Game Three win.
Hate ended up with nine kills, three assists, and eight deaths for the lower bracket-bound Execration.
Meanwhile, Sunsparks continued its mastery of ONIC PH, 2-1, to take the second seat in the upper bracket finals.
Despite dropping the series opener, the reigning kings of MPL-PH were able to bounce back strong, taking the next two games of the series to send ONIC PH to the lower bracket.
Jaypee (Ling) once again led the way for Sunsparks, putting up five kills and four assists with no deaths while Killuash backstopped his hyper carry with two kills and two assists.
Sunsparks and BREN Esports will go up against one another in the upper bracket finals tomorrow at 5:00 p.m.
Execration will face the winner between BSB and Blacklist International, while ONIC PH will wait for the result of the match-up between SGD-Omega and ULVL. Both games will also be played tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., respectively.
