Onic Philippines clutched their way through a 2-1 thriller over Nexplay Evos to take their second season win in Week 2 of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League (MPL) Philippines Season 11 on Sunday.
The Hedgehogs were coming off an impressive performance after dealing reigning world champions Echo with their first match loss this season. They improved their record to 2-2 with five points.
“Sobrang proud ako sa kanila kung pano nila hinandle yung pressure (nung Game 3). Habang nakikinig kasi kami ng comms dun sa backstage, kahit na medyo hindi pumapabor samin yung situation dun sa ingame, nasosolusyunan pa rin nila,” Onic PH head coach Kevin “Bluffzy” Reyes told the press fresh off their tight series against NXPE.
Game 1 was a nip-and-tuck affair until Kenneth “Nets” Barro (Brody) gunned down a triple kill during the 13th-minute lord fight to help Onic secure the objective.
With the luminous lord marching on the botlane, NXPE tried to make their move. Unfortunately, Frince Miguel “SUPER FRINCE” Ramirez (Pharsa) positioned beautifully to score a quick double kill and anchor a 4-0 counter initiation to take Game 1, 1-0.
Nets took the match MVP honors courtesy of a 5-1-6 KDA.
Buoyed by Bien “BoyetDR” Chumacera’s (Baxia) brilliance who was at a 2-0-3 KDA by the 5th minute, NXPE mounted a fightback in Game 2 with a 6-1 kill lead and a 2k spread in the net worth.
Onic though found a new lease of life when they countered with a 3-0 pick-off during the 13th minute to erase a 5k net worth deficit and almost ended the series in the 15th minute via Nets’s (Claude) split push only for NXPE to survive with a sliver of health on their base turret.
Everything boiled down to a 17th-minute lord fight, where Borris James “BruskoDR” Parro (Lolita) executed a timely two-man Noumenon Blast set-up to secure the lord. They followed up with a 2-1 exchange to force a rubber match. 1-1
It was Onic’s time to mount a comeback in Game 3 with NXPE commanding control of the match until Stephen “Sensui” Castillo (Fredrinn) clutched the lord during the 27th-minute team fight that the Hedgehogs followed up with a 2-1 exchange in the ensuing sequence.
With the evolved lord on their side, Onic easily executed a base turret siege to secure the series win.
