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| Photo from MPL Philippines |
by Drew Malihan
MAKATI – Aurora Gaming maintains their top-half table status by handing Smart Omega their first loss of the MPL Philippines Season 14 regular season on Sunday.
It was a bounce-back game for the men in black and teal, who suffered their first series loss of the season against the current world champions, Falcons AP.Bren, the day before.
Aurora needed just 17 minutes in the first game to take down Barangay, with roamer Renejay “Renejay” Barcase’s Tigreal leading the team with a game-high 11 assists, while Kenneth “Yue” Tadeo’s Valentina had an impressive performance with a 5/1/11 KDA.
Andrew “Andoryuuu” Flora’s Fredrinn performed well in the first game, securing all three turtles for Omega. However, it was Jonard Cedrix “Demonkite” Caranto’s Julian who prevailed in the late game, as Aurora secured both lords of the game.
Omega controlled the first 15 minutes of Game 2 until Jomari “JOWM” Pingol, Joshua “Ch4knu” Mangilog, and Jayson “UK1R” Alupit were taken down while attempting to tie the series, with Demonkite’s Ling securing a triple kill.
From there, it was all Aurora until the 21st minute when Ch4knu’s Hylos managed to stall Aurora, redirecting the last cannon minion on the right side to the mid lane instead of straight to the base.
JOWM’s Claude returned just in time to take down Demonkite, Yue, and Edward “Edward” Dapadap, forcing Renejay and Jan Dominic “Domeng” del Mundo to defend against the rest of Smart Omega, setting up a winner-takes-all game.
Renejay’s Chou was largely ineffective, falling six times while only securing a single assist. On the other hand, Nowee “Ryota” Macasa’s Edith had a solid game with a 1/2/11 record.
Aurora dictated the pace in the decider, ending with a 6-2 scoreline in their favor, capped by a 4/0/2 performance from Demonkite’s Roger.
Edward returned to form, gaining an early advantage against Ryota with Arlott, while displacing all five Omega members in the 11th minute using the lord as bait, while Ch4knu's Grock wasn't felt as Renejay's own Hylos gameplay grabs five assists to the former's one.
Ryota’s X.Borg was the only one to secure kills for Omega, getting one each from Edward’s Arlott and Renejay, but it wasn’t enough as Aurora took down all nine of their turrets and forced them into team fights.
Omega will face Fnatic ONIC Philippines in a lone game in Week 3 on Saturday, while Aurora will look to maintain their momentum next week against FNOP and TNC Pro Team.
Follow him on X: @DMalihan_DPH
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