Smart Omega avenged their first round defeat at the hands of Nexplay Evos via a 2-1 reverse sweep in the penultimate week of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League (MPL) Philippines Season 11 at the Shooting Gallery Studios in Makati on Saturday.
They solidified their grip on the fifth spot as they improved to 15pts courtesy of a 5-7 card.
Head coach Tony “Ynot” Senedrin was happy with how the team handled the pressure and stuck to the winning conditions during a tight Game 3 encounter against the Minana-backed squad.
“Natutuwa ako kasi alam ng mga players ang winning conditions. Alam nila, hindi sila nagpanic na kahit naka-early yung kalaban. Alam nila na scaling tayo, patagalin natin and makukuha natin yun,” he said.
NXPE on the other hand is in danger of missing the playoffs as they sit seventh with 12pts. Their remaining matches are against the top half team in Echo, RSG Slate Philippines, and Blacklist International.
Omega dropped to 4-8 with 13pts and is currently tied with Onic Philippines for the sixth spot. Only the top six teams will move on to the playoffs.
Jan Domenic “DomengDR“ Del Mundo (Karrie) played a stellar Game 1 that saw him execute a quick item buy-and-sell while evading Renz “Renzio” Cadua’s (Joy) attack in the backline during the 24th lord dance that NXPE converted into an evolved lord take.
The Neon Tigers secured the win in the ensuing base turret invasion with DomengDR finishing with a monster 13-1-4 KDA.
In Game 2, Smart Omega opted for a late game-centric composition, conceding the early game and finally making a breakthrough in the 13th-minute lord fight. Duane “Kelra” Pillas (Claude) capped things off with a double kill to secure the lord and command control of the map.
Deomark “Mikko” Tabangay also delivered a solid performance, highlighted by a pinpoint Divine Judgement on Bien “BoyetDR” Chumacera (Fredrin) that helped Dean “Raizen” Sumagui (Alice) secure the lord in the 16th and 24th minutes. He nabbed the match MVP with a 1-1-7 KDA.
Game 3 went down the wire, with Omega clutched their way through a 25th-minute lord fight where Kelra (Karrie) took two kills during a 5-2 wipeout to secure the reverse sweep.
Renzio played a key role in the rubber match with his signature Masha that provided problems for the enemy’s goldlaner.
“Yun yung pinakamagandang narinig ko, nakita ko kay Renzio. Dun ko naramdaman yung excitement niya sa game eh. As in sobrang excited. Simula pa lang ng game hanggang matapos. Kasi alam naman natin lahat, isa yan sa mga hero na pagkasinabing Masha, syempre Renzio yung katabi,” said Ynot on Renzio’s Game 3 performance.
