THE BIGGEST influencers in the scene, teaming up with a handful of professional players, took center stage in the Mobile Legends 515 All-Star Showmatch.
In the end, though, Team Dogie took the spotlight as they won all three events in the Saturday exhibition games. Matches lined up for the event were a 1v1 featuring the pro players, followed by a 1v1 with all of the players, and then the classic 5v5 match.
MPL-PH professional players on each team spearheaded the 1v1 showdown, where Team Dogie’s representatives secured a victory over their counterparts.
The first match was the traditional mirror match between the Chou masters, where Team Dogie's Jaylord “Hate” Gonzales (from Onic) trounced Team Andrea's Carlito Jagdon “Ribo” Ribo Jr. (from Bren).
The succeeding match was a tactical hide-and-seek game where Team Dogie managed to close the curtains. Though Blacklist International’s Johnmar “OhMyV33nus” Villaluna was slain by Aura PH’s Christian “Rafflesia” Fajura, he avenged his death by destroying the tower.
The final 1v1 match was another mirror affair between the Kagura kings, where Team Andrea finally secured a victory courtesy of Execration veteran Billy “Z4pnu” Alfonso’s domination of Nexplay’s Renejay “Renejay” Barcarse.
Following the mano-y-mano slugfest was the much awaited 5v5 event, where Setsuna "AkoSi Dogie" Ignacio and Andrea Brillantes took to the field to show off their skills in the best-of-three series.
In the first game, Team Andrea deployed the Diggie strategy from Rafflesia. But this was quickly countered as OhMyV33nus’ Gord and Hate’s Lancelot dictated the pace of the match.
It seemed as if Team Dogie was going to comfortably secure the series, especially given their aggressive early to mid-game pressure in Game 2. But late game heroics from Z4pnu’s Harith provided the sparkplug needed for Team Andrea’s comeback victory.
This led to a game clincher, where Team Andrea looked poised to repeat their Game 2 victory by mounting a comeback. But Hate’s Harith spoiled their momentum with last-minute entrances in teamfights.
At the end of the series, Brillantes said in the post-match interview that her team's demise was caused by Dogie’s calculated decision to ban their signature heroes.
Dogie then challenged her team to another 5v5 match — this time, a no-holds-barred battle with all players unleashing their signature heroes. Brillantes’ argument proved moot as Team Dogie remained victorious.
Team Andrea was composed of Ribo, Rafflesia, Z4pnu, as well as streamer and athlete Eric "Eruption" Tai. Team Dogie, on the other hand, had Renejay, Hate, OhMyV33nus, as well as popular streamer Edgar "ChooxTv" Dumali.
The All-Star event all began with a prank Brillantes pulled on Dogie using John Paul "H2wo" Salonga's account. Dogie ended up doubting Brillantes' skills in Mobile Legends.
During the broadcast, the team captain also revealed that, after the incident, both Ribo and Rafflesia had approached her in order to silence Dogie and her doubters. Eventually Z4pnu and Eruption tagged along as well.
This forced Dogie to form his own team consisting of MPL-PH standouts Renejay, Hate, OhMyV33nus, as well as ChooxTv.
After her defeat, Andrea admitted during the interview that this was an eye-opening experience as she was impressed with the performance level of her teammates.
In response, Dogie admired Andrea’s decision in digging deep into the game. Even if she was known for being a casual player, Dogie was amazed with her overall performance.
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