Surging Aurora escapes Twisted Minds; Onic deepens Team Falcons' woes

Aurora Gaming continued its tear in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League (MPL) Philippines Season 16, cruising past Twisted Minds in a tight 2-1 victory for its third consecutive win on Friday at the Green Sun Hotel.

Aurora, which opened its campaign with a shocking 0-2 loss to Team Falcons, has since bounced back with three straight wins — including statement victories over powerhouses Team Liquid and Onic — to climb to 3-1 and seize third in the standings.

In its latest win over Twisted Minds, Aurora banked on midlaner Kenneth "Yue" Tadeo’s Kimmy and gold laner Jan "Domengkite" Delmundo’s Harith in a dominant Game 1 showing, erupting for a 13-4 kill spread.

Both Yue and Domengkite had flawless KDAs with the former unloading six kills and five assists and the latter launching four kills and seven assists.

But Twisted Minds, once off to a 3-0 start this season, rediscovered its form in Game 2 as jungler Michael "MPtheKing" Endino showcased his mastery of the Lancelot pick.

MPtheKing picked off Dylan "Light" Catipon’s Hylos off a perfect Divine Judgment setup from Carlo "Caloy" Roma’s Kaja during a 13th-minute skirmish, then followed it up by eliminating Jonard "Demonkite" Caranto’s Yi Sun-shin.

The rest of Twisted Minds finished it off as they leveled the series to one game apiece. 

But Edward "Edward" Dapadap took charge in Game 3 for Aurora with his signature Lapu-Lapu, diving onto four Twisted Minds heroes with the Bravest Fighter to set up a three-man wipe and seal the win.

The longtime exp laner claimed MVP honors with five kills and six assists against no death to help Aurora start its resurgence. 

In the second game of the day, Onic Philippines bounced back from a loss in their previous game by making quick work of the slumping Team Falcons with a 2-0 win. 

Jungler Cyric "K1NGKONG" Perez led the charge in both games with nine kills and four assists on the Fanny in Game 1 before unloading five kills and seven assists on Hayabusa in Game 2, steering the reigning world champions to the top of standings at 3-1. 

Team Falcons, on the other hand, suffered its fourth straight loss to go 1-4. 

—JMB, GMA Integrated News