Combo breaker.
Echo Philippines’ fantastic winning runs in MPL Philippines Season 11 finally came to an end yesterday. The M4 champion failed to beat RSG Philippines in a best-of-three encounter.
Echo Philippines kicked off MPL PH Season 11 with a bang. Not only they managed to nix the curse of the M Series, which the champions would eventually lose a few opening games in the next MPL, they overcame formidable opponents such as Blacklist International and Bren Esports with lopsided victories.
Their amazing performances caught the attention from audiences, thanks to the Benedict “Bennyqt” Gonzales, who recorded 16 kills for Echo Philippines in week 4 alone, and “Sanford” Marin Vinuya. However, both of them seemed lost against RSG PH’s brilliant draft.
Through their veteran exp laner Nathanael “Nathzz” Estrologo, RSG Philippines got Paquito who dominated teamfights in the early game.
Though Echo were trying to hold their ground and play more patiently, they were losing on important objectives and control over the map. RSG players managed to outsmart the ‘echosystem’ and seized the Lord twice which ended in defeat for Echo in game 1.
In an attempt to turn the tide, Echo resorted to a greedy draft by taking Melissa, Pharsa, and captain Karl “KarlTzy” Nepomuceno’s mainstay hero, Atlas. But RSG replied with Nathzz taking on Lapu-lapu and John Paul “H2wo” Salonga playing Lancelot in game two.
H2wo’s tanky Lancelot proved to be the key factor which helped RSG to cope against Echo offensive strategy. He was succesfully neutralised the aggressive play of KarlTzy and Bennyqt while giving space for his teammates to flank their opponent.
Echo, who attempted to press from the beginning, was forced to fight for their point when RSG secured crucial objectives and seized the Lord three times in late game.
Although Bennyqt put up a good fight around 20th minute, RSG obtained Evolved Lord and won minion waves which slowly marched toward Echo’s base. H2wo took advantage of the situation and finished the game.
With 5 victories and 2 losses, RSG PH bounced to third place in MPL PH regular season’s table. Their victory was even more impressive given that they finally ended the Echo winning streak which started in February 17. Echo is now down to second, 2 points adrift of Bren Esports who is now at the top of the table with 6 victories and 1 loss.
