Mineski propels to 2-0 headstart in '18 GPL Spring opener

By Ozzy Alaba 

MANILA -- After almost a year of absence, Mineski is definitely back to the GPL scene - a lot stronger and more dominant as SEA League of Legends could have ever seen before. 

Mineski (MSK) kickstarted their 2018 Garena Premier League (GPL) Spring Split campaign on a high note after stomping Indonesia’s Bigetron eSports (BTR) and Singapore’s Sovereign (SVR) in their respective games to end Day 1 of the Group Stages with a 2-0 record at the Bangkok International Trade & Exhibition Center eSports Studio on Wednesday.

Despite being absent in last year’s GPL Summer Split, the current Philippine champions showed no signs of rustiness in international play as their Korean imports Bae Yong-jun and Kwon Jun-seok joined forces and proved to be a thorn in the opposition's side, asserting their domination from the start till the very end, thus leading the six-man squad to the two important wins.

With this, Bae and Kwon, more known as Gari and Jjun, respectively, amassed a merged game-high Kill-Death-Assist (KDA) Ratio of 27, accentuating Bae’s flawless 7/0/4 KDA on Ezreal in the curtain-raiser (vs. BTR), and Kwon’s excellent engages with Zac in Game 2 against SVR, letting him bag 15 assists in the said game. 

MSK’s veteran top laner Jon Lance Hernandez (Kaigu) and support Gerald Gelacio (Tgee) also contributed in supporting their key reinforcements as the duo concluded the day with a combined 7/5/40 KDA (9.4 KDA Ratio) in the two-game run. 

Resident substitute James Karl Santos (Hamezz) also provided quality minutes for MSK in mid laner Eric Allen Gubatan’s (Exo) absence, making his presence felt through his poke power on Ryze and Corki, which gave him a decent 3.57 KDA Ratio (9/7/16 KDA) at the end.

BTR and SVR, meanwhile, encountered the same situation in their matches; both squads stalled enough time to mount a comeback attempt as they continuously picked off MSK’s key picks, but it seems that the former took two steps ahead of them as MSK immediately wipe them off in game-clinching teamfights, forcing the two to call GG in a fast-paced manner.

SVR’s AD Carry Charles Teo (Mexi) and jungler Tay Leong Jie (IceDestiny), as usual, spearheaded the Singaporean champions’ charge, garnering a combined KDA Ratio of 2.25 (6/8/12), alongside with BTR’s Vietnamese top lane import Do Duc Minh (Minky) and mid laner Adi Riansyah (Radians), who lead the Indonesian winners through their merged 3/4/1 KDA (1 KDA Ratio). 

With the wins, Mineski are now tied with Thai champions and 2017 GPL Summer third-placers Ascension Gaming (ASC) at first place with a perfect 2-0 record, and will face the former and Malaysian representatives Kuala Lumpur Hunters (KLH) on the second and final day of the Group Stages on Thursday.

The latest results of the 2018 GPL Spring Split Group Stages - Day 1. League of Legends PH Page

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