THERE wasn’t much competition in this edition of the so-called “Golden Rivalry” with defending champion Team Liquid PH charging to a dominant 2-0 sweep over ONIC Philippines to cap off the first half of the MPL Philippines Season 17 regular season at the Victoria Sports Tower in Quezon City last Sunday.
Written off as a team set to be “nerfed” and fall to rock bottom this season, TLPH flipped the script, turning doubt into fuel and growing even deadlier at the halfway mark —storming to a 7-0, undefeated run through Week 4.
The cherry on top of the Cavalry’s stampede was the steady presence of rookie Dave "Teddy" Viaña, who stepped up big time from the day he debuted to fill in for Sultan “Aeronnshikii” Muhammad, who moved to Malaysia’s AC Esports.
Teddy validated his place alongside veterans, getting the job done in the gold lane while racking up eight wins from Week 2 to Week 4 against ONIC Philippines with his signature Claude pick.
Nip and Tuck Affair
Team Liquid PH denied ONIC PH the chance to secure a fourth straight win led by MVP performances from Karl “KarlTzy” Nepomuceno and Sanford “Sanford” Vinuya.
In Game 1, Team Liquid and ONIC PH went neck and neck, contesting every Turtle and Lord objective. However, the Super Family gained early control after Cyric “K1NGKONG” Perez secured the 6-minute Turtle with Suyou.
Team Liquid slowly cut the deficit after KarlTzy’s Fredrinn secured the 13-minute Lord. However, ONIC turned the tides again when Savero’s Granger scored a triple kill in a 14-minute mid-lane clash against Jaypee’s Khaleed, KarlTzy, and Teddy’s Harith.
It was also a showdown between gold laners, and Teddy secured a double kill during the 17-minute clash after successfully defending the mid lane inhibitor turret, helping the Cavalry hold on longer and keep comeback hopes alive.
After KarlTzy secured the 20-minute Lord, the Cavalry stormed ONIC’s base. Alston “Sanji” Pabico, playing as Yve, used Real World Manipulation to set up Sanford’s Freya and finish the siege.
Sanford made his presence felt with a 5-2-4 KDA, powering the Cavalry to a 1-0 match point.
Game 2 saw Team Liquid PH dominate ONIC PH in just 12 minutes, building a massive 10,000 gold lead by the end.
It only took the Cavalry to close out the series after eliminating ONIC’s frontline—Kirk’s Alice and Brusko’s Khaleed. During the final push, Teddy’s Claude focused on hitting the base turret and finished with a modest 0-0-3 KDA.
KarlTzy, playing as Suyou, earned MVP honors with a perfect 9-0-1 KDA.
The next test for Team Liquid PH is a rematch with M7 World Champions Aurora Gaming PH on Friday, April 24 in Week 5.
Week 4 Results
Friday (April 17)
TNC 0 - 2 Team Falcons
Omega 0 - 2 ONIC PH
Saturday (April 18)
TNC 1 - 2 Twisted Minds
Team Falcons 2 - 0 AP.Bren
Aurora 1 - 2 Smart Omega
Sunday (April 19)
Team Liquid 2 - 0 ONIC
AP.Bren 0 - 2 Aurora
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