ESPORTS

Echo asserts mastery of Aura Fire with reverse sweep in MPL Invitational

Echo duplicated the feat they completed last year with a similar 2-1 escape against Indonesia's Aura Fire in the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League (MPL) Invitational 2021 on Tuesday.

The Philippine representatives also sent their Indonesian counterparts packing in the MPLI 2020 Round of 16 with a 2-1 win.

Aura played an aggressive early game in Game 1 and successfully disrupted Mark “Hadess” Lazaro's (Paquito) jungle farming but Christian “Rafflesia” Fajura (Khufra) provided superb mechanical set-ups that resulted into a 5-1 kill lead for Echo by the 4th minute.

The Indonesians, though, scored a 3-1 exchange in the 11th minute that they converted into a luminous lord take to take down all Echo inhibitor turrets for the opening win, 1-0.

With their backs against the wall, Echo leaned on the heroics of Hadess in Game 2 who started with a 4-0-0 KDA by the 5th minute and had a clutch luminous lord steal in the 21st minute for the equalizer, 1-1.

He finished with a 10-3-9 KDA to force the rubber match. Rafflesia was once again instrumental with his nifty Jeet Kune Do execution on Chou to finish with a 4-4-17 KDA.

The two-time MPL PH champs then had to dig deep in Game 3 as they engaged Aura in a see-saw battle culminating in a 25th minute lord fight where Rion Manalo “RK3” Kudo (Pharsa) took down the Jehuda Jordan “High” Sumual (Ling) to secure the luminous lord and take the series, 2-1.

Echo now awaits the winner of the RSG PH-RSG SG match to dispute a slot in the quarterfinals across MPL Indonesia Season 8 champions Onic Esports.

MPLI is participated by the top MPL teams in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Cambodia.

—JMB, GMA News