By Ernesto Nodado III

Onic PH failed to retrieve their winning tempo as they bowed down to Indonesia’s Aura Fire in the first round, bidding goodbye in the MPL Invitational 2022, Thursday evening.

Photo Courtesy of ONE Esports

Aura shifted their strategy into high gear in Game 2 and 3, executing High’s Aamon and Kabuki’s Claude to deal damage which Onic had nothing to do but go straight to a tournament exit too soon.

The Filipino squad were dominant early on with Der’s Esmeralda disrupting Aura’s positioning to take objectives in the 6th minute.

With the early lead, Onic PH easily knocked down turrets and Nets’ (Beatrix) maniac play drew first blood in the series, earning him the MVP with a KDA of 8/0/3.

Aura came up with a new draft in Game 2 to even the series, picking a high-dosed damage dealer in the current meta. High’s Aamon tore apart heroes of Onic PH and harvested objectives easily. 

High (Aamon) led the way to force a rubber match against the yellow hedgehog squad with a 100% kill participation KDA of 5/1/3.

Onic PH grabbed the lead in the early game of Game 3 as Kekedoot’s Diggie assisted on objective takes with a timely time’s journey and nuisance time bombs.

However, Aura began to find their footing as Kabuki’s Claude scaled well and Fluffy’s Pacquito targeted the backline of Onic PH, clinching the lord in the 12th minute.

Completing the reverse sweep, Aura’s pincer maneuver in the top lane at the 17th minute mark, with Fluffy and Kabuki heading to the backdoor, wiped out Onic PH to continue their siege towards the base.

Kabuki’s sensational backline damage breakthrough led to be hailed as MVP in the series-winning game with a KDA of 4/1/8.

The Indonesians will face the veteran Todak from Malaysia in the second round at 9:00 pm on Friday, November 4.