Newboys RSG stun MPL PH powerhouse Echo

RSG Philippines completed a reverse sweep of Echo Philippines, 2-1, to rise up in the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League (MPL) Philippines Season 8 rankings on Saturday.

After lording over in the early going of Game 1 courtesy of Arvie “Aqua” Calderon's (Beatrix) 3-0-0 KDA in the gold lane, RSG established a comfortable 3k gold lead by the 5th minute and took down three Echo outer turrets.

But the two-time MPL champs, previously focusing on their late game power spikes, finally made their move in the 9th minute and won a 2-1 exchange via Frederic "Bennyqt" Gonzales's (Natan) double kill). They followed it up with a 3-0 salvo in the midlane during the 12th minute and converted the success into a lord take as they conquered the top and bottom inhibitor turrets. Echo needed another luminous lord to finish off the MPL newcomers in the 19th minute, 1-0.

RSG then came out firing in Game 2 as they flaunted a Saber-Kaja-Harley combo prioritizing single pickoffs that proved effective as a 2-0 2nd minute exchange helped the team to wrestle control of the match.

Despite some clutch displays by Echo that extended the game up until the endgame, including a 17th minute luminous lord steal by Jaymark "Hadess" Lazaro (Ling), RSG stayed patient in the late game and finally made a breakthrough with a 27th minute 4-0 takedown in the enemy jungle to finally equalize, 1-1.

RSG then carried the momentum in Game 3 as they led from start to finish as they completely dominated Echo on the back of John Cedrix “Demonkite” Caranto's Roger (2-0-8 KDA) and Christian “Iy4knu” Manaog's Kagura (5-0-2 KDA).

RSG now has 4pts (2-1) while Echo remained with 6pts as they slid 2-2.

—JMB, GMA News