ONIC PH showed the door to Cignal Ultra, picking up its fourth-straight victory via a 2-0 sweep in the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League-Philippines Season Seven regular season, Friday night.
The two-time MPL runners up moved up to the second spot of Group A with 15 points through a 6-2 standing — all while eliminating Cignal Ultra out of the competition.
With this, ONIC PH, along with Work Auster Force, BREN Esports, and Aura PH, have all qualified for the playoffs.
Kairi “Kairi” Rayosdelsol’s fingerprints were all over ONIC PH’s Game One victory, initiating timely plays to keep Cignal Ultra from gaining momentum.
The jungler-turned-support finished with a game-high 11 assists along with two kills and a death en route to the SMART MVP award in the 16-8 Game One win.
“Lahat ng team pinaghahandaan talaga namin, hindi namin [ina-underestimate] kung pang ilan sila sa standings, anong rank nila sa [group]. Lahat tinuturing naming pantay pantay,” said Kairi.
ONIC PH jungler Jaylord “Hate” Gonzales spearheaded the offense in the opener with six kills and four assists against a death in the match which lasted for 18 minutes and 11 seconds.
Kairi’s running mate in Jay “Jay” Torculas’ Baxia took over for ONIC PH in Game Two, flexing his muscles to set up a plethora of plays for his team to dominate the match.
The former MPL champion ended the match with a game-high 12 assists along with three kills and a death to win the SMART MVP plum in the 18-4 Game Two domination.
Kairi also made his presence felt with a perfect 5-0-7 kill-death-assists tally with his Selena.
Prior to this match, Cignal Ultra, who dropped their tenth straight game with only just three points under their name, still had a shot at making the playoffs if they swept their remaining games.
However, the loss to ONIC limited their maximum points to just 12 points — two points short of third and fourth placers Aura PH and Bren Esports, who are currently tied at 14 points apiece.
ONIC PH will next face Omega Esports on Sunday at 6:00 pm while Cignal Ultra looks to break the curse next Saturday at 4:30 pm against Aura PH.
