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| Team Liquid Philippines clearly ruled 2025 in Philippine esports. Richard Esguerra (file photo) |
QUEZON CITY--When Team Liquid Philippines was stunned by then newcomer Aurora Gaming Philippines in the first round of the MPL Philippines Season 14 playoffs, it was apparent that change must happen.
Fresh from ruling Season 13 earlier in 2024, the Echo franchise dropped to the fifth seed after the Season 14 double round robin phase, and the shock Playoff Day 1 exit became the ultimate sign for a shuffle.
Exactly one year ago, Liquid PH's first shakeup happened, assigning Archie "Tictac" Reyes, its longtime head coach, as the new team manager and bringing in Rodel "Arsy" Cruz as its new chief tactician.
Right after turning Falcon Esports into the gold standard of the Burmese Mobile Legends Bang Bang scene, Cruz was given the daunting task of bringing Liquid PH back into Philippine MLBB dominance.
Reyes would later be brought back into the coaching staff as an analyst.
The other tweak, though, was revealed accidentally.
Just as Karl "KarlTzy" Nepomuceno and Sanford Vinuya were about to wrap up their live streams later in January, Kiel "Oheb" Soriano was caught on camera standing up from his chair after they were done with their ranked games.
Nepomuceno and Vinuya knew they blew the cover up since the Soriano signing was supposed to be only made official on Feb. 10.
"Sobrang laugh trip kasi ang akala niya talaga, naka-end live na ako pero hindi pa," Nepomuceno said before the start of Season 15.
The live stream slip-up turned out to be a statement in disguise that Liquid PH was about to do something spectacular.
With a more solid replacement to Masayuki "YukTzy" Fujita, who was later assigned to Liquid PH's academy team, as the starting gold laner coming in, the roster that would tear everyone apart in a now iconic hotel ballroom in Makati was finally complete.
Despite another furious challenge from Aurora PH, Liquid PH locked up the top seed after the regular season of Season 15.
Liquid PH's quest hit a bit of a snag when the then-defending champion Onic Philippines swept them in the upper bracket finals.
However, after repeating against Team Falcons Philippines, featuring the former lineup of its archrival AP Bren, in the lower bracket finals, Liquid PH dethroned Onic PH as the national champ, delivering a dominating Game 7 to continue a trend of ruling the odd-numbered seasons for three straight years, dating back to Season 11 in 2023.
Questions were raised ahead of the MLBB Mid-Season Cup in Riyadh, though: can Cruz, known for having a history of heartbreaks internationally, deliver on the global stage under Liquid PH?
The answer was a resounding yes.
Liquid PH took the MSC by storm, sweeping the tournament from the Swiss stages to the grand finals to win US$1 million and go halfway into the "Golden Road".
Finally, Cruz got out of the international tournament slump.
"Unti-unti ko nang nari-redeem yung sarili ko kasi noong 2024, lagi akong kinakapos," Cruz told Dugout Philippines when he shared how he recapped his 2025 on Saturday night during Liquid PH and Aurora PH's send-off event for M7 at Pop Up Katipunan here.
However, then came another challenge.
The sudden rise of Twisted Minds Philippines following the core of Lazy Gaming was signed on, plus the vast improvement of many other MPL PH teams put Liquid PH at the thick of things during the regular season for Season 16, not to mention the target on their backs since being the defending domestic and newly-crowned MSC champ.
Eventually, Liquid PH secured the third seed in the playoffs, but that means they had to play again on Day 1, this time with a larger crowd watching them live at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay.
Adding to the tougher road ahead was that Liquid PH had to play its longtime rival, Falcons PH, again, all the more so that they had a lot of momentum with them since fighting back from being last place for most of the regular season to snatching the last playoff spot.
No more Day 1 heartbreak for Liquid PH this time as it put an end to Falcons PH's Cinderella run to move to the Final 4.
Afterward, Liquid PH stunned second seed Onic PH in the upper bracket semifinals, which meant a match with red-hot Aurora PH in the upper bracket finals.
Although Aurora PH dominated them to continue a record-setting winning streak, Liquid PH did not waver, ending another Cinderella run, this time from TNC, in the lower bracket finals.
And then, one of the most dominant grand finals performances happened.
Liquid PH got back at Aurora PH with a 4-0 finals sweep to not just snap a 15-match winning run but also give the latter another championship match heartbreak for the second straight year.
With that, Liquid PH bagged its third major championship for the year, putting them one title away, the M7 chip, from completing what many thought was impossible to achieve, the MLBB pro circuit equivalent of the grand slam.
However, due to the Southeast Asian Games, M7 was moved to January this year, with the wildcard phase just beginning on Saturday.
That did not stop Liquid PH from ending the calendar year with a bang, though, as the squad, representing Sibol, ruled the SEA Games MLBB event in Bangkok.
Needless to say, 2025 was the year of Liquid PH and, more especially, for Cruz.
"Sobrang saya ko kasi sobrang ganda ng binigay sa akin noong 2025," Cruz further said.
Now, the focus is on the one title that has eluded Cruz, the M-Series title, and this could be his best chance considering Liquid PH's prestige.
This is also his first crack at doing what he wants to work on for this year.
"Mas magiging firm ako sa decision, disiplinado, and mas focused ako sa goal namin," Cruz shared his New Year's resolution as a coach.
No matter what happens in Jakarta, though, Liquid PH could be in for another huge year this 2026.
