By: Jerod Orcullo
ONIC Philippines denied a reverse sweep attempt by Team Liquid Philippines, 2-1, to move up to the third seed in the MPL Philippines Season 15 standings, Saturday at the Green Sun Hotel in Makati.
In the rematch of the SIBOL Qualifiers semifinals — which ended in favor of Team Liquid, 1-2, last April 23 — this series would once again require three games to decide who came out on top.
With Team Liquid clinging on to a 2,200 gold lead, the Cavalry took a shot at making a diversion play at the 12:10 mark near ONIC’s purple buff to potentially pick off Borris “Brusko” Parro’s Chou.
However, Brusko managed to escape unscathed, leading to the Sonics pouncing on the Cavalry’s error to flip the script and pick off three of its members in one swoop, paving the way for ONIC to end the game just seconds later.
“Yung nangyari dun sa last play ano eh, parang inanticipate lang namin na mag-TP sila dun sa blue side, then parang nangyari dun parang sa chemistry nalang namin kasi ‘di naman namin na-call yun eh, parang biglaan lang,” France “SuperFrince” Ramirez explained when asked about the series-deciding moment.
ONIC came out with a statement win in Game 1 as Anthony “Ynot” Sendering tried his own hand at a debut pick, placing the Valir in the hands of SuperFrince. However, it was Brusko who proved to be the game-changer as his Khufra finished with five assists in two kills throughout the 13 minutes and four seconds.
Team Liquid evened the series with an aggressive showing in the following game as Kiel “Oheb” Soriano’s Harith proved to be unstoppable with eight kills and three assists in the 10-minute and 53-second game.
Now sitting at an 8-3 record, ONIC has a shot at making it to the upper bracket of the playoffs as it faces AP.Bren this Sunday for one of its final three games of the elimination round.
As for Team Liquid Philippines, the Cavalry will try to get back into form as it takes on TNC Pro Team on May 2 at 5:00 PM.
