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| Andrew "Andoryuuu" Flora properly introduced the jungler Uranus. MPL Philippines (file photo) |
MANILA--Andrew "Andoryuuu" Flora introduced a new way of playing Uranus as Virtus Pro got a headstart in the wildcard phase at the start of the MLBB Mid Season Cup early Friday (Philippine Time) at the Boulevard City in Riyadh.
Flora rocked Nightmare Esports when he decided to draft the tank hero, usually an EXP laner in most competitive matches, including Game 1 when Denis "BadKot" Bogomolov drafted it to a dominating success, as the jungler for Game 2.
The result: a 6-0-7 KDA stat line for Flora to headline VP's 18-3 kill win over Nightmare in Game 2 with an almost 9,000-gold lead in just over 12:35 of action.
Game 1 saw an even start, but VP pulled ahead after claiming the third Turtle and establishing full map control.
With a growing gold lead, they broke through Nightmare's defenses to secure both Lords and the first game.
Flora actually showed fellow Filipino import Bien "Boyet" Chumecera the right way to play Uranus as a jungler, as Chumecera also played the said hero in the said role to no avail, highlighting hometown favorite Team Falcons MENA's collapse against Rare Atom.
With new head coach Francis "Duckey" Glindro at the helm, Falcons MENA looked poised for a demolition job after it dominated Game 1 with a crowd control-heavy draft that allowed Sulaiman "Saano" Al-Rashdi on the Granger to shred through RA and close out the game with ease.
Falcons MENA then raced to an 11-4 kill lead in Game 2 ahead of the third Lord fight.
However, disaster struck in the third Lord fight as a missed attack from Moayed "Trolll" Kharaba as Kalea opened the chance for RA to take the already evolved Lord and spark a comeback.
RA caught Falcons MENA by surprise after the latter took down the fourth Lord and delivered the sneak attack to eventually raze the base and force Game 3.
The tank combo of Chumecera's Uranus and Ayman "Sanjiii" Al-Qarni's Hilda, with Kharaba's Angela providing the healing support, was obliterated by the three-marksman combo of Mikey Wang as Moskov, Delvin "Lanaya" Gunawan as Yi Sun-Shin, and Zhang "Paofu" Hao as Kimmy, and RA almost shut Falcons MENA out in the decider to complete the reverse sweep.
Legion Esports and Influence Rage also scored 2-1 reverse sweeps against The Mongolz and Zeta Division, respectively, in the other Day 1 matches.
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