One day, two reverse sweeps, six grueling games in total.
Team Liquid PH and Team Falcons both endured best-of-three thrillers against AP.Bren and M7 World Champions Aurora Gaming PH, ending the MPL Philippines Season 17 Week 2 in dramatic fashion at Victoria Sports Tower in Quezon City.
Both the Cavalry and the Hive came into the match unscathed, but only one walked away on top. Team Liquid PH secured a perfect 4-0 match record to take the top spot, surviving AP.Bren's challenge and shutting down jungler James “JamesPangks” Mendoza, after pulling off a stellar 17-1-5 KDA in Game 1.
Team Falcons overcame a challenging match to stun Aurora Gaming PH, 2-1, securing a second match win and rebounding from a previous setback against Team Liquid PH.
Cavalry Stays Undefeated
Once again, Team Liquid started slow. And just like its previous game, it overcame.
In Game 1, AP.Bren completely dominated Team Liquid PH, led by the jungler JamesPangks, playing as Suyou.
JamesPangks secured a Maniac during an 11-minute midlane teamfight before sealing the game with a triple kill at 17 minutes in the top lane, paving the way for an AP.Bren wipeout.
The MVP was a no-brainer, with JamesPangks getting an amazing 17-1-5 KDA for the game.
Then the champions showed up to play.
In Game 2, Karl “KarlTzy” Nepomuceno, using Guinevere, gave Team Liquid PH much-needed breathing room by stealing Lord objectives despite being zoned out by AP.Bren.
Game 2 was an all-out battle from start to finish, but it took a rookie to make a difference after Dave “Teddy” Viaña, on Claude, delivered a crucial double kill in the final Lord fight.
KarlTzy was named the MVP with a 2-2-5 KDA performance.
In Game 3 Team Liquid PH made sure to seal the deal against AP.Bren with style, pulling off a lopsided 13-3 kill score.
Jaypee “Jaypee” Dela Cruz, playing as Chou, led the Cavalry’s charge to reverse sweep with a perfect 2-0-9 KDA.
Falcons Take Off
Team Falcons closed out a challenging week by taking down one champion in Aurora Gaming after its upset bid against Team Liquid the day before came short.
It didn’t look like that early on though.
In Game 1, Aurora Gaming quickly took map control, most of the key objectives, and the gold lead.
Kenneth “Yue” Tadeo, on Kimmy, secured a double kill at the 12-minute mark in the midlane, boosting Aurora’s dominance over the Falcons.
Yue dominated for Aurora with a stellar 5-0-4 KDA, securing the team a 1-0 lead in the match.
A totally different Falcons side showed up in the ensuing games.
In Game 2, Team Falcons rebounded with a solid early game and amassed an 8-1 kill lead by the 4-minute mark.
Marco “SuperMarco” Requitiano, on Karrie, secured a double kill at the 10-minute top-lane clash, opening the door for Falcons to pressure a lone defending Yue.
SuperMarco became Team Falcons’ saving grace with a perfect 6-0-6 KDA, tying the series at 1-1 against Aurora Gaming.
Nothing capped off Week 2 better than the dramatic 22-minute Game 3 clash between Falcons and Aurora, finishing 22-11 in kills.
Rowgien “Owgwen” Unigo, playing as Kaja, led the cast with a 1-2-23 KDA and 96% kill participation.
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