More often than not, teams who usually get their targeted heroes in the drafting phase take the upper hand in any game.
But that wasn’t the case in Aura PH’s Game One loss to Work Auster Force on the opening day of Mobile Legends Bang Bang: Professional League-Philippines Season Seven.
The two-time MPL-Philippines champions nabbed Silvanna, Bane, and Yve in the first phase of the draft. Aura PH then picked up Thamuz and Yi Sun-Shin to cap off the perfect draft.
Aura PH was able to form a composition that they are really comfortable with, that’s why the team is very confident heading to Game One. But unknown to them, Work Auster Force’s decision to pick Bruno last pretty much countered their entire arrangement – that, along with Diggie that is a natural counter to Silvanna’s kit.
“During Game One, we were actually confident because we got our draft. But it didn’t work out because of the damage given by Bruno during the late game,” stressed Aura PH tank Christian “Rafflesia” Fajura.
“We just changed our plans during Game two and we actually found their weakness.”
Come Game Two, Aura PH fielded in an aggressive roster led by Rafflesia’s Grock which has the High and Dry emblem. Gearing back to his old play style, the two-time MPL-Philippines champion went back to his invading ways and hounded Daniel “Chuuu” Chu’s Claude all throughout the match.
“Grock was actually buffed last season, but not every team is interested in using it. But during the M2 World Championship, I really didn’t expect that the Burmese Ghouls will actually try to use it,” shared Rafflesia.
The emblem has been used before with Grock by Burmese Ghouls’ RubyDD during the M2 World Championships. But the M2 grand finalist used Grock as a sidelaner, making this the first time that the High and Dry mechanic was used in a roaming Grock.
“So my team gave me a Grock. I wanted to deal a high amount of damage which is why I used the assassin emblem,” he explained.
The assassin emblem helped Grock, one of the few tanks who deals a high amount of damage, to amp up his damage even more. And this allowed Rafflesia to constantly poke enemy heroes which became the key factor in their victory in Game Two and eventually, in Game Three.
Rafflesia won MVP honors in Game Three after putting up 10 assists laced with three deaths. He dealt a total of 25,059 damage – edging out cores Jaypee “Jaypee” Dela Cruz’s Lancelot and Benedict “Bennyqt” Gonzales’ Thamuz.
Aura PH will next face Blacklist International at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 21 as they gun for their second straight victory.
