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| Nicole "Nicholette" Huang and Sharifah "Aria" Fakrrurozi hugged each other after GG dethroned NaVi PH. Moonton |
MANILA--Gaimin Gladiators pulled off the biggest shocker so far in the MLBB Women's Invitational after sending NaVi Philippines out of contention with a 2-0 quarterfinal win on Thursday at the SND Esports Arena in Riyadh.
Gaimin Gladiators shocked the now-erstwhile champion early on by delivering a Game 1 domination to open the best-of-three series.
NaVi PH, with its title defense now on the ropes, looked poised to force a Game 3 after a solid start to Game 2 that saw the Filipino side race to a 6-1 kill lead and a 7,100-gold advantage with the bottom lane already cleared up.
However, Ashley "Ashlay" Ann's Minotaur caught Sheen "Shinoa" Perez's Irithel midway into the second Lord dance that sparked GG's comeback.
NaVi PH lost steam from there as GG completed the late rally to seal the sweep and declare the MWI championship vacant.
It was actually a day of NaVi slaying for GG as the quintet, with MPL Philippines commentator Neil "Midnight" De Guzman as part of the coaching staff, sent NaVi Malaysia home too with a 2-1 win in the Group B lower bracket finals, setting the quarterfinal date with NaVi PH.
Up next for GG is Terror Queens in a semifinal battle between giant slayers.
TQ shocked Onic, 2-1, in their own quarterfinal series.
With both NaVi PH and Onic out, the possibility of an all-Filipina or all-Indonesian finals is now down to zero.
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