Falcons AP.Bren, Team Liquid Echo forge upper bracket finals duel

Falcons AP.Bren and Team Liquid Echo swept their way into the upper bracket finals to move a win away from booking first of the two championship slots in the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League (MPL) Philippines Season 13 on Thursday night at SM Southmall.

The defending champion Bren blanked the scorching Blacklist International, 3-0, in their upper bracket semifinals showdown while Echo dominated RSG with an identical 3-0 victory to advance to the next round. 

Bren needed just 17 minutes to draw first blood against the Codebreakers with Marco "Super Marco" Requitiano (Roger) unloading a double kill en route to tower lock.

Building on that momentum against a squad that's coming off two straight knockout matches in the play-in round, Bren further imposed its will in Game 2 as a total wipeout saw the defending world and MPL champions taking a commanding 2-0 series lead. 

Blacklist showed no resistance as Bren took down almost all objectives by the 16-minute mark before a final team clash saw four players from Blacklist get killed, allowing the top-seeded Bren complete a sweep. 

Benedict "Bennyqt" Gonzales secured the lord at the 13th and Echo took advantage of it to push to the base as midlaner Alston "Sanji" Pabico's (Valentina) pivotal triple kill on Light, Kusey, and Demonkite paved the way for the dominant victory. 

The losses sent Blacklist and RSG to a lower bracket clash later today with the winner advancing to the lower bracket finals against the loser of the match between Bren and Echo. 

—JKC, GMA Integrated News