Former champions Aether Main and ArkAngel along with World Challenger and Empire Monarch advanced in the upper bracket while ULVL and GREY Esports bowed out of the MPL Philippines Season 7 Qualifiers on an action-packed Saturday.
Led by pioneering member Yuji "Yuji" Aizawa and ex-Execration standout Jeff "S4gitnu" Subang with the support of original founder Akosi Dogie, Season 1 winner AE steamrolled past ULVL, 2-0, in the first round.
Season 3 titlist ArkAngel, which is hell-bent on making a comeback to the professional league after falling a win short last season, came through with a 2-0 thrashing of Reech Apex.
World Challenger (Work Auster Force) lived up to the hype as it swept heavily favored Laus Auto Group Playbook Esports while Empire Monarch also handed GREY a quick beating.
In the win-or-go home lower bracket, Playbook pulled off a 2-1 victory over ULVL even as Reech Apex outlasted GREY, 2-1.
Bren Esports coach Francis "Duckeyyy" Glindro actually predicted ULVL to take one of the two qualifying spots to the Season 7 main tournament but eventually fell short of the expectation.
The Main Qualifiers conclude on Sunday, with AE taking on World Challenger and ArkAngel squaring off against Empire Monarch in the winner's bracket.
Playbook and Reech Apex will await the losers and resume their campaign from the lower bracket.
All matches are best-of-three all the way to the finals of both brackets where the two qualifiers will be determined.