By Ivan Saldajeno
MANILA--MVP survived an epic 72-minute battle on Saturday night against Mineski to keep their hopes of entering the upper bracket of the Manila Major alive.
MVP bounced back from a 0-1 deficit while having to undergo over an hour of wild encounters with Mineski in the decider to earn a date with EG, which lost to LGD in the first upper bracket qualifier, later Saturday for one of the eight spots in the upper bracket come the playoffs beginning Tuesday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
Mineski took the opener as Benhur Lawis' Alchemist wrecked havoc late in the game, but the combo of Kim Seon-Yeop and Lee Sang-Don took over MVP in the second game, forcing the decider.
Mineski tried to go objective in the decider as team captain Jay Qui, playing as Huskar, led the team in dominating the middle and the bottom lanes.
But Kim, as Ember, and Pyo No-A, as Juggernaut, picked up steam as they scored crucial player kills to counter Mineski's run.
Mineski's objective gaming continued to gain fruit as they eventually gained the mega creeps, even took down both MVP's tier-4 towers, leaving only the Dire ancient as the remaining target, and even scoring PK's despite Kim already acquiring Divine Rapier.
But MVP scored crucial clash wins inside Mineski's base and eventually turned the tides for good.
The loss dropped Mineski to the lower bracket, with the first round being only a one-game affair.
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