Aura PH took a sweet revenge against bitter rival Onic PH even as Blacklist International crashed out of the ONE Esports MPL Invitational on Sunday.
Aura avenged its early exit in the MPL-Philippines Season 6 at the hands of Onic as it pulled off a comeback 2-1 victory in the second round in Bracket B of the $100,000 (P4.8 million) regional tournament.
The two-time champion formerly known as Sunsparks will duke it out versus Philippine champion Bren Esports in the quarterfinals next week.
Meanwhile, Blacklist suffered a 2-0 sweep against Indonesian side Geek Fam in Bracket C, leaving Aura and Bren as the only remaining PH teams in the 20-team invitationals featuring the strongest squads in Southeast Asia.
Onic drew first blood in the MPL-PH's "El Clasico" as teen prodigy Kairi "Kairi" Rayosdelsol took charge of the two-time runner-up with his signature Lancelot that finished with a perfect record of four kills and three assists.
However, Aura equalized the series behind the physical damage from Jaymark "Hadess" Lazaro's Lancelot and the magical burst from Jaypee "Jaypee" Dela Cruz's Harith.
Hadess posted a 6-2-10 kill-death-assist record while Jaypee came through with a 4-2-14 tally.
Ashley "Killuash" Cruz stepped up on his Barats in the deciding game, tanking the damage from Kairi's Lancelot and the rest of Onic while allowing Benedict "Bennyqt" Gonzales' Lunox and Hadess' Ling to dish out the damage.
Jaypee's Natalia also came through with crucial pick-offs throughout the series-clinching win.
