By Arvin Migallos

PHOTO: YouTube

Omega Esports live to fight another day as they ousted Echo Philippines with a 3-1 victory from Mobile Legends Bang Bang Professional League Philippines Season 8 Playoffs, proceeding to the next round.

Omega will be facing their arch nemesis and first-seed Blacklist International in the 2nd round of the playoffs in a best-of-5 format.

A pivotal Game 4 was all OMG needed as Patrick "E2MAX" Caidic's Luo Yi "Diversion play" along with Duane "Kelra" Pillas' Aldous initiating the teamfight proved too much for Echo who wanted to finish the game in the midst of a 4-man wipe.

“Para sa akin, mahirap din ‘yung [puro kayo] late game comeback. Siyempre parang lugi kayo sa early. Kaya ‘yun ‘yung pinractice namin,” said E2MAX in a post-match interview.

Echo also had their moment to shine led by Mark "Hades" Lazaro in Game 2 where his Paquito dealt huge amounts of damage to OMG's lineup aided by Christian "Rafflesia" Fajura's aggressive Chou to tie the series against the latter team, 1-1.

Game 1 and 3 was completely dominated by the "Kings of Southeast Asia" with OMG's rookie jungler Dean "Raizen" Sumagui showcasing his Hayabusa, booting out the former back-to-back champions ECHO and give his team the upper hand in the series.

This is the second straight time that Echo(also known last season as AURA Philippines) fell to the hands of OMG as they were also defeated by the latter last season with a 3-0 sweep.

Blacklist International's Kiel Calvin “Oheb” Soriano will not be playing in his team's first playoffs series with his suspension still in effect as they attempt to defend their title against last season's runner-up Omega.