By Ozzy Alaba
MANILA -- Mineski (MSK) successfully reclaimed their title as the Philippine kings of League of Legends while Team Manila Eagles (TME) secured third place as they dumped their respective opponents in the Finals and Third Place Match of the 2018 Bacchus PGS Spring Split Playoffs on Saturday.
Despite suffering from a major reverse sweep against TME in 2017 PGS Summer Finals, MSK didn't let that bother into their minds, but instead showed their unformidable championship form as they swept the shorthanded TNC Pro Team, 3-0 with Korean import Kwon Jun-seok (Jjun) and veteran support Gerald Gianne Gelacio (Tgee) pacing the six-man squad to the victory in 2018 PGS Spring Season.
Kwon and Gelacio, known for their huge contributions in MSK's bloody skirmishes displayed their flexibility in playing mechanical and utility picks, amassing a combined 15/10/74 Kill-Death-Assist (KDA) record, a team-high for the former Worlds participant.
Kwon's fellow Korean import Bae Yong-jun (Gari) also stepped up big, dealing lots of damage with his Varus and Caitlyn, which let him bag a team-high 26 kills, with him scoring a Pentakill on his Caitlyn in a Baron pit teamfight in the final ticks of the series.
Meanwhile, TNC's last-minute replacement Caroline (unknown name) flashed his international scene experience, but it wasn't enough to carry the original six-man team as he finished the three-game series with a team-high 4.33 KDA Ratio (14/6/12 KDA).
Caroline's fellow last-minute filler Neil Harold Gabriel (Mirmoooo) also underperformed in his PGS comeback, only garnering a 5/13/22 KDA (2.07 KDA Ratio) in the end.
TME, on the other hand, despite being dethroned in the semifinals still wrapped the 2018 Spring Season up on a high note after finishing the playoffs in Third Place, dumping newcomers Barcy x Rage eSports, 3-1 in the best-of-5 Third Place Match, with TME's AD Carry Marc Ilagan (Marky) and Support Jordan Pamintuan (Raux) shining.
Ilagan and Pamintuan capitalized their lane aggression and scaling advantage properly and with style as the veteran bot lane duo relentlessly crushed their counterparts in the entire series, ending the four-game series with a combined game-high 44/23/96 KDA (6.08 KDA Ratio), highlighting Ilagan's stellar 16/0/9 KDA on his signature Caitlyn in thr final game and Pamintuan's 25 KDA Ratio (2/1/23 KDA) on Morgana in the same game.
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| A FED MARKY. TME's resident AD Carry Marc Ilagan (Marky), playing as Caitlyn got the last laugh in the series-ending team fight in their best-of-five Third Place Match, killing BRE's jungler Keiya Laureta (XDXP) in BRE's base, getting a Double Kill and marking his 16th kill in the said game. |
TME's substitute Jovie Chicano (Yom) also joined the scoring crew, kicking his 2018 PGS season debut in a boom and filling their resident mid laner Robert Dan Mansilungan (Trebor)'s absence after obtaining a decent 16/15/26 KDA (2.8 KDA) in his first three games in the current season.
Furthermore, BRE's jungler Keiya Laureta (XDXP) and substitute mid laner Gerald Madrigal (Apdong) ended the three-game run in a pretty good manner, registering a combined 5.71 KDA Ratio (36/14/44 KDA) and putting Madrigal's game-high 23/4/9 KDA (8 KDA Ratio) in his two starts in the spotlights.
With the win, MSK will represent Philippines in the upcoming 2018 Garena Premier League (GPL) Spring Split this March 28 to April 1 in Thailand, where the winner of the said tournament will qualify in the 2018 Mid-Season Invitational.
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