Mineski splits matches in GPL Groups Day 2 but pulls off shocker over ASC to solidify semis slot

By Ozzy Alaba

MANILA -- In spite of being shocked with its defeat earlier in the day, Mineski didn't let that bother into them but instead pulled off a moment SEA League of Legends will ever cherish watching.

Mineski (MSK) locked their ticket to the 2018 Garena Premier League (GPL) Spring semifinals as they rebounded their loss earlier in the day through ruining Ascension Gaming (ASC)'s perfect record in the tournament's longest game to wrap their seeding up in first place in the second and final day of the group stages at the Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Center eSports Studio on Thursday.

Despite finishing the first day of the Group Stages with a perfect 2-0 record, MSK weren't able to channel their gained momentum quickly as the six-man Filipino squad was dismantled by Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur Hunters (KLH) in the second match of the day with KLH's temporary AD Carry and resident support Poon Kook Sin and jungler Eric Sia spearheading the charge.

Poon and Sia, also known as OzoraVeki and QaspieL in-game, respectively, asserted their lane dominance from the beginning till the very end, constantly shutting MSK's Korean imports Kwon Jun-seok (Jjun) and Bae Yong-jun (Gari) down through their aggression early in the game, which left their adversaries dumbfounded and forced to call GG in 40 minutes.

Poon and Sia then ended the match with a combined 27 Kill-Death-Assist (KDA) Ratio (9/1/18 KDA), a game-high and a team-high for the Malaysian champions.

But even if losing their first match of the day, MSK still proved that they can bounce back to it - and they just did it in the best and bizarre way possible.

MSK merely pulled off one of GPL's biggest upsets as they ultimately came back from a very large gold , objective, and tower deficit to weather ASC, Thailand's powerhouse's early storm in 54 minutes - the longest of 2018 GPL season as of now.

ASC, the third-placers of the 2017 GPL Summer Split, could have won the entire game as their jungler Sanpett Murat (Intreso) stole the Baron Nashor away from MSK's hands in the dying minutes of the game, but they weren't able to use that big advantage properly as Bae's poke power, with the help of mid laner Eric Allen Gubatan's (Exosen) late-game power of Azir, and his teammates continuously wiped them off in game-clinching clashes, which caused them their probable first-place finish and perfect group stage record.

With this, Bae and Gubatan concluded the match with a combined 10/7/20 KDA (4.29 KDA Ratio), highlighting Bae's superior kiting on Caitlyn and Gubatan's excellent pick-offs to ASC's bot lane duo of Juckkirsts Kongubon (Lloyd) and Warich Kittiwattanawong (Rich) through his stellar use of Emperor's Divide, which gave them the crucial win.

Kwon, and MSK's veteran top laner Jon Lance Hernandez (Kaigu) and support Gerald Gelacio (Tgee) also provided some quality minutes in playing tanky champions, leading the assists department with 30 assists.

With the win, Mineski ended the Group Stages with a 3-1 record, and since they won against ASC in their last match, they will take the first seed going into the playoffs and will have a rematch with the Malaysian representatives in the semifinals on Saturday.

The bracketing of the 2018 GPL Spring Playoffs. Leaguepedia

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