By Arvin Migallos


PHOTO: MPL

MPL-PH Season 8 runner-up Onic Philippines advanced to the second round of the upper bracket after defeating the host team Resurgence in a convincing 3-0 finish in the M3 Mobile Legends World Championships in Singapore.

Gerald "Dlarskie" Trinchera led Onic Ph in game 1 with his tanky Uranus controlling the minion waves of RSG, providing space for his allies to snowball and win in a dominant fashion, 1-0.

Kairi “Kairi” Rayosdelsol's Yi Sun-Shin stole the spotlight in game 2 as he was vital for the team's victory with an outplay in RSG's jungle area converting to a luminous lord take to bag the match point, 2-0.

RSG bounced back in Game 3 where they seem to be in a comfortable lead but the tides quickly shifted as they were wipe out in the final clash that happened in Onic Ph's   bottom lane where Kairi's Natan even acquired a Maniac in the 5-1 hero trade and eventually pushing to the former's base, 3-0.

Dlar said in an interview that their motivation to win was when Blacklist was unfortunately sent to the lower bracket by Bloodthirsty Kings from North America saying that they want to exact revenge for them.

"I think we should not get affected by the loss of Blacklist because we’re in a different bracket. But good luck to the both of us," said Kairi

Meanwhile, MPL-PH reigning champions Blacklist International bowed down to BTK in an upset, 2-3, to go to the lower bracket of the tournament. 

Johnmar "OhMyV33nus" Villaluna, Danerie "Wise" Del Rosario and co. tried their best, where they even brought a Hylos jungle pick in games 2 and 4 and the notorious Aldous pick but BTK outdrafted and picked off BLCK's members one by one execute, one of the most crucial upsets in M3 so far.

Blacklist International will find themselves yet in another predicament as they will face MPL-Indonesia Season 8 Champions, Onic Esports, the same team that defeated them in MPL Invitationals last November 3-1

On the other hand, Onic PH will clash against the three time world qualifying team RRQ, MPL-ID Season 8 runner up, in the next round.