Tristan “Yawi” Cabrera bounced back from a rough outing the previous day to lead ECHO to the lower bracket finals of the MPL Philippines Season 11 playoffs on Saturday at the SMX Convention Center.
Yawi, who admitted to playing inconsistently in the team’s tight 2-3 loss to RSG Slate PH in the upper bracket semifinals, stepped up when it mattered the most and helped the reigning world champion eliminate the top-ranked Bren Esports, 3-1, in the lower bracket semifinals.
“Inconsistent po yung laro ko kahapon e,” said Yawi during the post-match press conference. “May maganda tapos may pangit din po kaya ngayon po ayoko po siyempre na mahila yung team ko pababa kaya sobrang focus po talaga ako at bumawi po ako.”
The former Nexplay EVOS roamer delivered 11 assists against one death on Franco in ECHO’s dominant 15-4 Game One win in 13 minutes and 27 seconds.
Bren Esports managed to equalize the series through a hard-fought win in Game Two but Yawi’s Franco stepped up again in the third match and dished out seven assists to lead ECHO to another lopsided win, 16-2, in 13 minutes and 22 seconds.
(C) MPL PH
Yawi finished off the series with a 3-2-5 KDA line in the 18-6 Game Four win in 16 minutes and 44 seconds of action.
The 21-year-old roamer said that he did not want to let his team down, which is why he made sure that he was locked in on his skill targeting, where he struggled in their previous match against Bren Esports.
“Siguro yung sa amin, yung [pag-bitaw] po ng skills. Kasi dami ko po nasasayang na bitaw ng skill, parang ‘di tumatama. So ngayon po minake sure ko na tumatama,” said Yawi.
“Mas nag-focus po talaga ako ngayon saka natulog po ako nang maaga tapos maayos yung gising. Yung mindset ko po talaga as in sobrang iba po compared kahapon kasi do or die na po ‘to e so ayoko pong magsisi sa huli na hindi ko po binigay yung best ko.”
