RSG Philippines secured their third straight victory with an impressive 2-0 sweep of Blacklist International in Week 4 of the MPL Philippines Season 13 on Friday at the Shooting Gallery Studios in Makati City.
The Raiders (4-3) improved to 13 points to establish enough separation in the standings from fifth-running MINANA Evos (2-4) and Blacklist (2-5), both of which currently have seven points.
RSG head coach Brian “Panda” Lim expressed his delight at the current progress of his team, which was coming off three straight defeats before a string of successive victories.
“It’s getting there, mga 70%. I just need more strategies, more tapang, more aggressiveness and more accurate execution before I feel like we’re ready na. But it’s getting there. We’re in a good progress right now,” said Panda on where his team is at the moment in terms of the target performance that he’s aiming for the team.
In Game 1, RSG debuted the Odette pick for the season, which Arvie “Aqua” Calderon played to its limits, finishing with a stellar 7-2-6 KDA to lead his team to the opening win.
Interestingly, Odette was a hero that they never used in the scrims leading up to the matchup against Blacklist, according to Panda.
“Bina-ban nila lahat ng hero ni Aqua eh. That’s actually maganda so si Coach Ivan tapos si Aqua suggested na pwede din sila mag-Odette. Sa una, medyo 50-50 si Aqua kasi we didn’t play it sa scrim but we gave him the support tapos nag-go sila,” explained Panda of the Odette pick in Game 1.
Nathanael “Nathzz” Estrologo (Benedetta) then took over in Game 2, highlighted by a four-man petrify play during a jungle invasion early in the 13th minute.
He finished with a 5-3-3 KDA, earning the game MVP citation.
RSG will aim for their fourth straight victory as they square off against Smart Omega on Saturday, April 13.
