Team Liquid kept their Golden Road aspirations alive by defeating ONIC Esports, 3-1, in the lower bracket of the M7 World Championship Knockout Stage on Thursday at the MPL Arena XO Hall in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Despite the convincing wins, Rodel “Ar Sy” Cruz admitted that their performance exposed areas they need to improve if they hope to survive the lower bracket and reach the title match.
“Based on what happened to our lower bracket match, I think it’s a wake-up call that it’s hard to stay with our comfort heroes and comfort playstyle. We need to adapt the current meta right now, like Alter Ego and other Indonesian teams,” he said.
Game 1 remained close until Jaypee “Jaypee” dela Cruz (Chou) executed a Way of the Dragon setup on Gilang “SANZ” (Valentina), helping Team Liquid secure the first lord objective of the match.
From there, Team Liquid dominated, cruising to a 15-minute win led by Karl “KarlTzy” Nepomuceno’s near-perfect 5-1-10 KDA.
Game 2 was a one-sided affair, with Kiel “Oheb” Soriano exploding for an 8-1-7 KDA on a surprising goldlane Sora pick.
After dropping Game 3 to ONIC, Team Liquid regrouped, relying on KarlTzy’s Fredrinn to take control early in Game 4.
The 21-year-old jungler showcased his leadership once again during the 16th-minute lord dance, scoring a double kill that sparked a clean 5-for-0 wipeout and eliminated ONIC from the tournament.
Sanford starred in the series-clincher, posting an impressive 2-1-9 KDA in a 17-minute victory to seal the series.
The win sets the reigning MPL Philippines champions up for a lower-bracket quarterfinal match against Turkiye’s Aurora Gaming.
