Kairi “Kairi” Rayosdelsol’s ONIC Esports fended off Mariusz “Donut” Tan and the hometown favorite, Burn X Flash, with a 2-0 victory, opening their 2023 Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Southeast Asia Cup campaign with a bang at the Aeon Mall Mean Chey in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
After securing the second Lord of the game during the 15th minute of Game 1, Burn X Flash immediately went for the siege and managed to take down all of ONIC Esports’ remaining turrets, as well as Calvin “CW” Winata (Beatrix) and Nicky “Kiboy” Fernando (Arlott).
With the two out, Muhammad “Butsss” Sanubari (Uranus), Kairi “Kairi” Rayosdelsol (Hayabusa), and Sanz “Sanz” Gilang (Yve) were left in a three-against-five situation against a rampaging Burn X Flash squad led by Sok “CCat” Roth’s Valentina.
Butsss threw his body into the middle of the chaos and successfully eliminated the lone siege minion to delay Burn X Flash’s push.
ONIC Esports eventually took the game after punishing Burn X Flash during the 19th minute.
In the tight 15-14 Game One win, Butss finished with six kills, three deaths, and an assist, while Kairi had three kills, four deaths, and seven assists in 20 minutes and 10 seconds of action.
“It’s hard because Burn X Flash is also good. They played well, but the real challenge for us is that they avoid fights. They prefer to clear minion waves and farm,” said ONIC Esports head coach Denver “Yeb” Miranda.
“When we become aggressive, they play defensively, so their strategy worked until late game, but we managed to come back and win the game,” he added.
Burn X Flash once again put up a strong fight against the Indonesian powerhouse, but ONIC Esports prevailed once more after Kiboy (Chou) perfectly caught Donut (Lesley), disrupting the Cambodian squad’s positioning in the Lord fight.
ONIC Esports completed a four-man wipe en route to victory.
Kiboy led the way with nine assists, a kill, and three deaths, while Butsss had six kills, two deaths, and three assists on Yu Zhong in the 13-9 Game Two triumph in 18 minutes and 22 seconds, as ONIC Esports moved to 1-0 in the tournament.
ONIC Esports will wrap up the group stage against Outplay on Monday at 5:30 p.m., while Burn X Flash will face the same team on Tuesday, also at 5:30 p.m.
