Fnatic ONIC Philippines proved that they are no longer just a regular season team as they dominated Aurora, 3-0, to reach the upper bracket finals for the MPL Philippines Season 14 Playoffs on Sunday at the Green Sun Hotel in Makati City.
ONIC made sure to make the necessary adjustments against Aurora in the playoffs after Smart Omega snapped their 13-game win streak in the regular season. The win secured them a top-three finish.
Last season, ONIC also scored the longest win stretch at seven but failed to capitalize on their regular-season exploits. They finished fifth after suffering from an early playoff exit.
“Nung Season 13 kasi, tulad ng lagi kong sinasabi, naging kampante talaga ko. Ngayon kasi di ko talaga iniisip yung seed namin, kung top seed ba kami or dinominate namin yung regular season. Kumbaga, talaga finofocus ko lang ngayon yung game. One game at a time lang talaga,” said Kelra on what changed after their early exit during the last post season.
Head coach Tony “Ynot” Senedrin believes that the changed mindset in his players really helped as they delivered what he believes was his team’s best performance to date.
“I think it’s probably the best series we’ve had. I think ito na kasi yung pinakainaabangan namin eh,” said Ynot of his team’s performance against Aurora. “Nakita ko kanina na pataas talaga nang pataas (yung potential ceiling nung team). And hopefully, ganun pa rin kasi again, hindi pa tapos eh.”
In the opener, the Sonics registered the fastest win of the season by dismantling their foes in just nine minutes and 32 seconds spearheaded by Borris “Brusko” Parro’s (Gatotkaca) immaculate 2-0-16 KDA.
Game 2 was a similar story as ONIC controlled the majority of the game before Duane “Kelra” Pillas” (Wanwan) scored a 16th-minute double kill that sparked the game-winning 5-0 wipeout and reached match point, 2-0.
Kelra (Harith) once again delivered the highlight reel in the close-out encounter as he weaved his way to a triple kill during a lengthy 12th-minute counter-engage that finally put away Aurora’s final defensive stand and completed the sweep.
ONIC will dispute the first ticket to the M6 World Championship in Malaysia against Falcons AP.Bren tomorrow.
