MPL PHILIPPINES

Bren punches playoff ticket with 2-1 thriller against RSG

Bren Esports is back in the playoffs after taking a 2-1 win over RSG in the penultimate week of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League (MPL) Philippines Season 10 on Saturday.

It was the team's seventh win this season, its most number of wins since Season 7 when it finished with an 8-5 record in the regular season.

Bren returns to the postseason after missing the playoffs during the past two seasons, coinciding with the departure of M2 world championship MVP Karl "KarlTzy" Nepomuceno, who left the squad after Season 8.

It was pretty much a draw in the early goings of Game 1 with no definitive objectives secured by both teams until RSG used their guns wisely during a lengthy 10th minute lord fight to score a 2-0 wipe and take the first lord of the match.

Just when RSG  looked to have wrestled control of the match, Bren scored a 4-0 counter initiation in the 12th minute and almost ended it with Michael Angelo "KyleTzy" Sayson (Paquito) just two punches away from taking down the enemy base turret in a magnificent split strategy.

The defending champions though held on with Clarense "Kousei" Camilo (Claude) arriving just in time to burst down KyleTzy before their base turret ran out of hp.

Angelo "Pheww" Arcangel then took over with his signature Kadita as he played superbly during an 18th minute lord fight, where his double kill kickstarted a 3-1 trade off plus the evolved lord that was enough for the M2 world champions to finally take the opener.

With momentum on their side, Bren played a hyper aggressive early game rotation in Game 2 leading to a massive 6-0 lead on the kill tally by the 3rd minute courtesy of Pheww's (Lylia) 4-0-2 KDA.

But RSG scored a breakthrough 4-1 exchange in the 5th minute from two team fights happening on both sides that Jonard Cedrix "Demonkite" Caranto (Karina) followed up with a triple kill a minute later to lead a 5-0 wipeout.

Despite emerging on top of the succeeding team fights, RSG though still had to labor deep into late game with Dexter "Exort" Martinez (Kadita) executing a timely Petrify + Breath of the Queen set-up followed by the launching of Rough Waves that bursted down two enemy heroes to clear the way in the enemy base turret and equalize, 1-1.

In Game 3, it was rookie Rowgien Stimpson "Owgwen" Unigo (Atlas) who took the spot light as he opened the rubber match with a 2nd minute three-man Fatal Links set-up for a 2-0 wipe. He followed it up with another two-man Fatal Links setup off a 9th minute lord fight that capped off a 3-1 exchange, giving Bren control of the match.

Bren once again leaned on Owgwen during a 17th minute lord dance as the rookie roamer perfectly zoned out all RSG members and provided a good crowd-control on an entering Demonkite (Akai) to help Bren secure the lord and take the series.

—MGP, GMA News