Onic extends Aurora's slump as MPL PH approaches final week of regular season

Onic Philippines piled onto the growing woes of defending world champion Aurora Gaming.

Onic overcame an early setback to pull off a 2-1 reverse sweep against Aurora as the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League (MPL) Philippines Season 17 Week 7 concluded on Sunday at the Victoria Sports Tower.

The win provided a major boost to Onic's playoff push as the former champions improved to an 8-4 record. However, it proved even more damaging for Aurora Gaming, who suffered their fifth straight defeat—a slump that has stretched since Week 5 and further dimmed their playoff hopes.

Frince "Super Frince" Ramirez was spotless in Game 2 with two kills and three assists on Gord while Cyric "K1NGKONG" Perez wreaked havoc on Suyou by erupting for seven kills and seven assists against no death in Game 3 as Onic clinched its third straight victory.

"'Yung Harley kasi, 'yung hero na 'yun, malaking factor siya sa meta ngayon kasi grabe siya mag-snowball. Ang OP (overpowered) niya kasi. Kaya naman siya tapatan pero nag-snowball lang nang malala nu'ng first game," Onic head coach Jeniel "Haze" Bata-Anon said on what transpired in their Game 1 loss.

"Tapos hindi na namin na-sustain. Wala kasing makasabay sa Harley."

(The Harley hero is a big factor in the meta today because of the snowball. It's so OP. You can match with it but it snowballed in a big way during the first game... But it didn't sustain. We just couldn't match up with Harley.)

Haze was referring to Jonard "Demonkite" Caranto's masterful use of Harley in the opener, where the veteran jungler punished Onic with four kills and six assists to help Aurora draw first blood.

Despite another loss, Aurora isn't losing hope about its Season 17 future despite an alarming slide that saw the reigning world champions bowing to Team Liquid, TNC, Twisted Minds, Team Falcons, and most recently, Onic.

Aurora is not entirely out of the playoff picture just yet. It still has two games left in the regular season as it takes on Smart Omega and AP. Bren later this week.

"Konti pa. Hindi pa 100 percent bumabalik 'yung form pero nakitaan naman natin ng improvement. So konting mastery pa sa ginagawa namin," Aurora head coach Aniel "Masterthebasics" Jiandani said.

(Just a little bit more. Our form is not back 100% but we can see the improvement. So we just need a little more mastery in what we've been doing.)

Meanwhile, Smart Omega pulled off a stunning 2-1 victory over erstwhile streaking Team Falcons to enter the playoffs for the first time after back-to-back misses in the last two seasons.

Smart Omega improved to 6-6 while Team Falcons, who was on an impressive eight-game winning streak, fell to a 10-2 card.

—JMB, GMA News