Deus Vult lived up to their tournament dark horse tag as they completed a dramatic reverse sweep of Cambodia’s See You Soon, 3-2, to reach the top four of the M5 World Championship Knockout Stage on Friday at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
The EECA completed the greatest fightback of the tournament so far thanks to veteran coach Kenneth “Flysolo” Coloma’s tutelage when everything looked lost and done.
“Nung una, parang ibang-iba yung laruan nila kahit hindi naman kami natalo sa draft. Kumbaga wala sila sa sarili nila. Medyo nagkakainitan na sila pero as a coach kelangan ko ihandle sila. Sabi ko eto yung idea ko, baka gusto niyong gawin to. Sinabi ko rin na kaya pa namin mareverse sweep to, di pa tapos ang laban,” shared the Filipino coach.
“Nung pagkapanalo namin ng isa, alam na naming tuloy tuloy na to. Kumbaga andun na yung momentum. Same sa mga nangyari samin sa mga past tournaments. So parang naging boost na rin siya sa amin.”
Filipino Imports Michael “MP the King” Endino and Clarense “Kousei” Camilo took turns in leading See You Soon early in the series, nabbing the MVP awards in Game 1 and 2, respectively, as the Cambodian representatives moved on the cusp of a sweep.
But Deus Vult refused to fold and brought Game 3 deep into the late game where Kemiran “Sunset Lover” Kochkarov’s brilliance with the Lylia pick came into play as the EECA representatives forced an extension after an arduous 31-minute victory.
Picking up on their momentous Game 3 victory, DeVu continued to stamp their class in Game 4 as Eduard “Magistor” Rukosuev (Guinevere) dominated the early goings and finished with a flawless 5-0-8 KDA to catapult his team to a 10-minute win and force a rubber match.
In Game 5, Stanislav “SAWO” Reshnyak was able to draft his signature Diggie pick that helped negate See You Soon’s pick-off oriented composition leading to another quick victory by the 10th minute and complete the reverse sweep.
DeVu will next face Blacklist International for the right to face the loser between AP.Bren and Onic Esports in the lower bracket finals.
