ONIC Philippines |
by Drew Malihan
MANILA - ONIC Philippines takes all three points to start the MPL Philippines Season 8 regular season as they dominated Echo Philippines Friday.
The two-time grand finalists dominated their longtime rivals in two different fashion as they take the first game via economy game and a fast-paced aggressive game two.
Echo fielded a flexible lineup of Chou, Hayabusa, Ruby, Kagura, and Harith with Aspect as the jungler and rookie RK3 in the midlane, while ONIC showed Ling, Esmeralda, Rafaela, Thamuz, while debuting Natan under a returning Baloyskie's control.
The former Aura Philippines team dominated the kills department, getting ONIC heroes one after another, but the objective game of Kairi and Beemo pays dividends as they deny two of three turtles of Echo.
A second lord take spells doom for Echo as despite RK3's heroics with Kagura, an Esmeralda ultimate took down three Echo heroes with the other two falling down on the chase.
Onic wasted no time as they took down the already exposed base with Baloyskie's Natan led the team with his 4/5/1 KDA.
It was a different storyline in the second game as Onic's X.Borg, Harley, Paquito, Khufra, and a surprise Lylia pick faced off against Ling, Chou, Ruby, Valir, and Lunox.
Echo, fielding a lineup without a true tank, suffers kill after kill as they were burst down by Kairi's Harley powered by Baloyskie's Lylia's burst damage capability.
The early game aggresion pays dividends for Onic as they take the series after an easier 8-2 win, thanks to Kairi's 6/0/1 KDA.
Onic will face Omega Philippines, who is now fielding all former Execration members from season 7, while Echo will look for their first points against a retooled Bren Esports.
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