Smart Omega finally secured their place in the playoffs after scoring a 2-0 sweep of TNC Pro Team in the final week of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League (MPL) Philippines Season 11 at the Shooting Gallery Studios on Saturday.
The Season 9 runners-up secured a playoff spot in Omega fashion, needing the final games of the season before locking down the final slot to the postseason. Their conquest of TNC eliminated Nexplay Evos’ playoff hopes as they improved to 18pts with the latter only maxing out at 16pts with one game left this season.
Omega coach Jomie “Pakbet” Abalos believes that the roster change heavily affected TNC after his squad figured in a close match during their first encounter this season. This time, it was Omega who had full control of the series leading to the sweep.
“Medyo nagreact sila dito sa last game namin. Kung sino na lang yung magkakasama sa ranked game, ayun na lang yung pinalaro nila. Kasi nakakalaban din ng team [namin] yung TNC sa ranked game. Yun yung line-up nila. Kaya siguro medyo dominant kami dito sa game na to kasi lagi nilang nakakalaban sa ranked game,” revealed Pakbet.
Omega opened the series with an urgency not dropping a single turret in Game 1 buoyed by Deomark “Mikko” Tabangay’s (Chou) initiations and Dale “Stowm” Vidor’s superb performance on the Kagura pick.
Mikko was instrumental during a 15th-minute lord dance where he zoned out King Cyric “K1NGKONG” Perez (Lancelot) for a pick off then executed another pinpoint Way of the Dragon set-up on Ben “Benthings” Maglaque (Franco) during the 17th-minute base turret aggression that Stowm capped off with a double kill to score a 3-0 wipe and pull ahead, 1-0.
In Game 2, Mikko (Grock) continued to lead the Omega with his initiations highlighted by an 11th-minute three-man wild charge that helped Duane “Kelra” Pillas (Karrie) score a double kill to lead a 3-1 tradeoff.
Omega never looked back from there and cruised to an 18-minute win to secure their playoff spot.
