With only two weeks left and his team still at the bottom of the standings, Omega Esports head coach Jomie “Pakbet” Abalos knew that things needed to change in order for the team to revive its playoff bid.
After consulting with his entire squad, it was decided that rookie Dean “Sumagui” who has been playing well as the second team’s jungler, will take over the jungler role from Kielvj “Kielvj” Hernandez as the team looks to mount a last-ditch attempt to salvage their campaign.
Pakbet said that the team tried to make it work with Kielvj in the lead, but things did not go according to plan in the past weeks, with the team failing to produce wins even in scrimmages.
Indeed, it was a tough decision for Pakbet, but it was a decision that needed to be made – a decision that even Kielvj agreed to.
“Yung desisyon namin… kasi kaming team din yung nag dedesisyon, kaming lahat yung nagdedesisyon kung paano namin titimplahin yung lineup namin kasi ilang beses na naming tinry na si Kiel yung funnel namin e,” Pakbet told Tiebreaker Times in an exclusive interview.
“Pero hindi pa rin nag wo-work yung ginagawa namin.
“Si Kiel, okay naman sa kanya na sa [reserve] muna siya kasi alam niya rin sa sarili niya na may kulang e, na may kulang pa sa kaniya. Kaya kailangan niya talaga munang mag step down para rin sa team namin,” he added.
Raizen, a natural jungler, made his debut back in Week Two after replacing Robbie “Hito” Candoy in the starting roster during the wake of star gold laner Duane “Kelra” Pillas’ suspension.
During that span, the rookie out of Silang, Cavite was able to help Omega Esports secure its first win of the season before eventually surrendering the role to mid-season Kelra.
“Ginawa namin, sinwitch namin si Raizen sa funnel namin. Yung pagkaswitch kay Raizen, sobrang ganda nung resulta ng mga scrims namin kasi hindi na kami nanalo sa scrims e,” Pakbet bared, noting that Raizen boosted the team’s confidence after suffering from several loses in scrimmages.
Now on the verge of elimination, Pakbet and the entire squad decided to put their faith in the rookie to help them get over the hump – and he did.
Playing as a jungler in the MPL for the first time, Raizen made quite a splash as he led Omega Esports to a huge 2-0 sweep against ECHO.
In Game One, the 17-year-old Raizen took matters into his own hands after securing a crucial Lord steal before capping off the win with a triple kill on his signature Roger. Then, he once again stole crucial objectives from ECHO to boost the Game Two victory for the sweep.
With this, Pakbet hopes that Raizen still has a lot left on his tank as they aim to rise up from the MPL Philippines cellar.
“Ineexpect ko kay Raizen mas gaganda yung performance niya bukod dito sa larong ‘to.
“Kasi yung bata gigil na gigil mag laro e napapansin ko sa kaniya lagi. Kaya tingin ko sobrang ganda pa nung mga ipapakita niya dito sa darating na matches namin,” said Pakbet.
Omega Esports, who moved up to the second spot with 13 points through a 3-7 standing, will take on Bren Esports tomorrow, Sunday at 6:00 PM.
