Team Liquid sends Onic Indonesia home to punch MSC Grand Finals ticket

Team Liquid continued its dream run in the 2025 Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Mid-Season Cup, booting Onic Indonesia with a 3-1 win in their heavyweight semifinals showdown on Friday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The Philippine bets now head to the finale showdown against no less than reigning MSC champions Selangor Red Giants (SRG) of Malaysia in a best-of-seven duel on Saturday at 7 p.m. (Manila time).

It was a collective effort for the Filipinos with jungler Karl "KarlTzy" Nepomuceno (Hayabusa) and gold laner Kiel "Oheb" Soriano (Harith) both unleashing unblemished KDAs to lead the Game 1 romp.

Onic kept Game 2 tight with mid laner SANZ making the most out of his Yve pick, sniping Oheb (Granger) and Jaypee "Jaypee" Dela Cruz (Hylos) during the crucial 25th-minute clash that also resulted in two more Team Liquid casualties.

But even with only mid laner Alston "Sanji" Pabico left alive, Team Liquid pulled off a gutsy tower lock with the help of the Lord to secure a 2-0 series advantage for the Cavalry.

Onic, though, would turn things around in Game 3 after a surprise Estes pick for Kiboy as the Indonesian champions remained alive. 

Sanji then took over late in Game 4 after his masterful plays on Zhuxin that led to a pivotal five-man wipeout for Onic Indonesia, steering the Philippines to yet another finals stint. 

"Of course, the number one is the love for the game and having fun, that's the more important thing to me right now. I'm having fun in playing, that's what keeps me motivated," KarlTzy, who has yet to capture an MSC title despite an accomplished professional career, said.

"For me, I don't have anything with SRG but I wanna beat coach Arcadia."

Team Liquid will now look to dethrone SRG, which earlier eliminated another Philippine representative in Onic Philippines with a nail-biting 3-2 victory. 

—JKC, GMA Integrated News