By: George Torno
Team Liquid Philippines capped off their MPL Philippines Season 16 regular season with a sweep against AP.Bren, 2-0, to end their campaign on a high note on Sunday at the Green Sun Hotel in Makati.
Despite losing out on an upper bracket slot after ONIC’s win, the Cavalry ended their regular season on a high note to cap off their regular season stint.
According to Karl “KarlTzy” Nepomuceno, Team Liquid PH do not feel any pressure heading into the lower bracket of the playoffs, drawing confidence from their past experiences in similar situations.
“Wala naman (pressure) kasi ilang beses na rin kaming napunta sa ganitong spot tapos nung past tournament namin its either lower kami or walang lower kaya feel ko kaya,” KarlTzy said.
In Game 1, both teams went toe-to-toe, trading kills early, but the Hive gained the edge with Arvir “Aqua” Antonio (Pharsa) securing two turtles, as AP.Bren controlled all three objectives while Sanford “Sanford” Vinuya (Arlott) kept the game close with six kills by the nine-minute mark.
A backdoor attempt by Alston “Sanji” Pabico (Luo Yi) at the 19-minute mark was fended off by Jan “Shizou” Valdez (Moskov) and Denniel “xNova” Gomez (Mathilda), trading both mid laners heading into the third Lord fight, but KarlTzy’s (Akai) Heavy Spin on Shizou gave Team Liquid the edge to wipe out AP.Bren in the 21st minute and close out the game.
In Game 2, Team Liquid dominated the early game, racking up five kills without a death by the 5-minute mark while building a 3.4k gold lead.
The defending champions never looked back, maintaining relentless aggression to extend their lead to 10k by the 11-minute mark before Sanford’s (Alice) Doom Waltz caught four members of AP.Bren, sealing the game in just 12 minutes.
Team Liquid Philippines will kick off their playoff campaign in an El Clasico showdown against Team Falcons on October 22 at the Cuneta Astrodome.
