Facing their former team, where they played for multiple seasons, both Duane “Kelra” Pillas and ONIC Philippines coach Patrick “E2max” Caidic admitted that they had extra motivation to snatch the win.
“Parang kahapon, napepressure nga ako eh. Parang may kailangan akong patunayan sa kanila (Omega),” shared Kelra when asked what he felt in the lead-up to his first match against his former team.
“Ayun yung ginawa kong motivation kasi bawal talaga akong matalo dun sa team ko before. Parang naging mindset ko nun, parang eto na yung inisip ko na parang grand finals yung laban namin. Wala akong sasayangin na bawat galaw. Walang gagalaw nang kakaiba kasi inisip ko talaga na parang grand finals yung laro.”
It’s normally easier to face a familiar foe, but for E2max, familiarity proved to be a harder factor to counter.
It was against Omega that they felt very threatened.
“Sa lahat ng preparations namin parang dito talaga ako kinakabahan eh, yung against sa Omega kasi kumbaga dati namin [silang] parang family. Alam namin yung capability nila and alam namin yung mga ginagawa nila. Kaya yun yung nagpapaoverthink samin pag nagpeprepare kaya in comparison sa ibang teams, dito talaga kami kinabahan,” explained E2max.
The former Smart Omega Captain badly wanted to win as it would be a statement win for his new team.
“Papasok sa series, talagang minindset na rin naman namin na syempre ayaw naming matalo sa old team namin kasi possible maging statement yung eh sa maraming tanong,” he continued.
Both E2max and Kelra were extra motivated, and head coach Tony “Ynot” Senedrin was there to right the ship for a team that is hungry to prove a point against their old team.
“Ito si Bam last season gigil to eh. Gigil yan and itong dalawa (E2max and Kelra). Weeks ago, yung start namin December si Kelra iba yung gigil niya. So more on toning it down para mas focused. Kumbaga, magawa pa rin yung dapat gawin.”
