TNC out of playoff contention with 0-2 defeat vs. Smart Omega

Photo from MPL Philippines

by Drew Malihan

MAKATI - TNC Pro Team's playoff hopes comes to a bitter end as they bow out of playoff contention with their 0-2 loss against playoffs-chasing Smart Omega to end their Week 5 campaign of the MPL Philippines Season 12.

It was the third time the Phoenix Army missed the postseason and their fourth in five seasons, with their only playoff appearance was a third-place finish in Season 9.

The Barangay meanwhile repeated their performance last September 17, with Joshua "Ch4knu" Mangilog leading them to a sweep of the men in black and orange.

The Phoenix Army grabbed an early game lead thanks to Jetson "Goyo" Ignacio's Valentina and John Vincent "Innocent" Banal's Ixia but failed to close out the series in the 14th minute of the game.

From there, the Barangay slowly crawled back from a 10 thousand gold deficit to even the odds, led by Duane "Kelra" Pillas's Bruno dealing massive damage and Ch4knu's Diggie negating Innocent, Ben "Benthings" Maglaque, and Ajay "Ajayy" Rubio's sets.

The prized gold laner eventually got the MVP nod with six kills and one assist, while Ch4knu grabbed a kill and four assists to claim Game 1.

It was a different second game for both teams as Omega grabbed the lead from the get go and TNC playing catch-up all 21 minutes.

Ch4knu, playing the Franco, grabbed a couple of crucial hooks against King Cyric "K1NGKONG" Perez's Martis and Innocent's Irithel to negate any potential damage from TNC especially during lord fights.

The black-and-orange squad executed several crucial defenses in their base, including a 15th minute shutout and a 17th minute defense despite Omega pushing in the bottom lane with the lord     

A 20th minute lord dance spelled the end for the Phoenix Army as Ch4knu capitalized on the lord's knockoff, and Kelra's Wanwan and Patrick "E2MAX" Caidic's Novaria getting four of five assists in a clean wipeout of TNC, eventually locking themselves a sweep.

Omega climbs back to 15 games with 5-6 record after the match, while TNC conceded their 10th loss of the season.

With them out of contention, TNC still has a chance to improve their standings as they will face ONIC Philippines, Blacklist International, and RSG Philippines in the final week of the regular season, while the Barangay still has matches with AP.Bren, RSG, and ONIC.

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