Ever since Jaypee “Jaypee” Cruz took over the starting roamer role for Team Liquid ECHO in Season 12, it felt like he always had to prove himself with the non-stop bashing from fans.
In Season 13, the phrase “Kasalanan ni Jaypee” became an online meme as fans repeatedly attributed TLPH’s losses to his subpar performances – especially during a two-week stretch in the regular season where they lost three of their four matches.
But since the MPL Philippines Season 13 playoffs started, Jaypee has shown once again why he is an important ingredient in TLPH’s success.
With an MSC ticket on the line, Jaypee delivered a heroic Game 5 performance where he struggled from the early game before leading his team’s comeback from a 7k deficit.
“Yung hero composition kasi namin, ‘di talaga makakapagburst sa early game. Nung early to mid, ‘di talaga kami masyado pumapalag kasi ang laro namin is for mid-to-late game pa. Patience lang talaga pinairal namin,” explained Jaypee on why his Kaja pick struggled in the early goings of Game 5.
His teammates did not lose faith, however, and he paid them back tremendously with a decisive Divine Judgement pick-off during a 20th-minute scramble that sparked TLPH’s series-clinching play.
His stellar performance easily earned him the game MVP as TLPH clinched the first ticket to the MSC in July.
Jaypee admits that he used the bashing as motivation to help TLPH take their second MPL PH championship in the last three seasons.
“Nakaka-motivate din sa’kin yung pambabash. ‘Di naman ako naaapektuhan sa kanila. Gusto ko lang talaga mag-champion,” he said.
Entering the playoffs, he paid no attention to the outside noise and was focused only on winning.
“‘Di ko na napapansin recently yung mga nambabash kasi naka-focus talaga ako sa mga practice namin. ‘Di ko pinapansin yung social media,” he added.
