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| Photo from ECHO |
by Drew Malihan
MAKATI - Defending MPL Philippines champions ECHO begin their title defense as they down Blacklist International, two games to none, to start the league's 12th season on Friday.
The Agents saw the return of Salic "Hadji" Imam and Kiel "Oheb" Soriano to the fabled squad along with former ONIC Philippines jungler Stephen "Sensui" Castillo as their main retribution holder, while ECHO have their seasoned veteran Jaypee "Jaypee" dela Cruz in place of regular starter Tristan "Yawi" Cabrera.
ECHO saw a convincing Game 1 victory with a 9-5 score line with Karl Gabriel "KarlTzy" Nepomuceno's stellar 7/0/1 KDA performance with his Martis while Alston "Sanji" Pabico scored one kill and six assists with the Valentina.
The defending champs dominated the map from the early game, getting all turtles and lords while only losing one turret in the process.
Blacklist made several changes to their lineup, getting a more explosive midlane of Martis in the jungle and Kadita while Renejay "Renejay" Barcase opted for a Khufra to counter a signature Chou pick from Jaypee and KarlTzy with the Joy.
Blacklist's five showed promise but it was ECHO's more superior macro game that spelled the difference in the second game with the defending champs getting all four turtles in 21 minutes of game time.
A late game skirmish saw three Blacklist heroes down for the count, leaving only Oheb and Edward "Edward" Dapadap to defend the Agents' exposed base against five ECHO heroes, resulting to an 18-12 finish with KarlTzy's 6/2/6 performance with the Joy getting the MVP nod.
ECHO will have a short break as they will face ONIC Philippines tomorrow while Blacklist will meet RSG Philippines on the same day.
Follow him on X: @drew_corner
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