The overhauled, rookie-laden ONIC PH is starting to prove that it is the team to beat after pulling off back-to-back shockers in the Mobile Legends Professional League Philippines Season 10.
Bannered by Nowee “Ryota” Cabailo, Jefferson “Kekedot” Mogol and Landher “Der” San Gabriel, ONIC swept two-time MPL champion Blacklist International before defeating powerhouse Omega Esports to emerge as the hottest team in Week 3 of this prestigious tournament.
France “SUPER FRINCE” Ramirez said sweeping the star-studded Blacklist crew was the last thing on their mind as they were glued on their mission of scoring just one game.
“We did not expect to win via sweep. We just wanted to score at least one game,” said the fast-rising mid laner, who drew support from Ralph “Rapidoot” Adrales, Kenneth “Nets” Barro, and Stephen “Sensui” Castillo.
Sensui admitted that beating Omega wasn’t easy.
They, however, stayed focused and composed in executing their plays that resulted to a very impressive performance.
“It was not easy beating Omega but when we are playing against top teams, it motivates us more to play better and come up with flawless plays,” Sensui said.
“We are not intimidated because we are just playing the same game. We just executed our plays and did not care about theirs.”
With the back-to-back wins, ONIC took the top spot in the regular season.
With its rookies doing damage, ONIC improved to 5-1 win-loss card with 13 points while Omega Esports slipped to No. 2 with 4-2 record and Blacklist fell to No. 4 with a 3-2 mark.
Meanwhile, after opening the tournament with a shaky 1-2 mark, reigning champion RSG PH finally found its form as it registered a couple of wins over Bren Esports and Nexplay EVOS.
But RSG PH’s victories come with a realization after coach Brian “Panda” Lim admitted that their old strategies are no longer feasible in the ever-changing meta of the competitive Mobile Legends scene.
“Starting this season, what I realized is that no matter how many times you win championships like the MPL Season 9 and MSC (Mobile Legends Southeast Asia Cup), I do not want a main five anymore,” he said.
“We have a Team A and B so what we decided is that for the first week, we will do a variation. Test trials.”
He added that their strategy will now defend on the players’ performance the previous week.
“Who played better that week? If we lose the first game, we would bring a sub,” he said.
“We feel like the old RSG strategy from Season 9 and MSC doesn’t work anymore. Now we need to adapt to the meta so the first weeks were hard. We are still trying to find our way.”