By REYNALD MAGALLON
The Nexplay EVOS is planning to stick to its newly formed sidelane combination of Renejay “RENEJAY” Barcase and Johnwin “Hesa” Vergara for its playoff run in the MPL Philippines Season 8.
The team had a rousing three-game stretch during Week 6, all thanks to the adjustment that put RENEJAY back in the exp lane while giving Hesa the space in the gold lane. NXP secured seven points throughout the weekend to rack up its total to 18 which secured them a spot in the playoffs.
NXP started out the week with a sweep of ECHO before snatching a point from Blacklist International in a 2-1 loss. The team then went on to sweep TNC to cap the week and finish at the third spot of the standings.
NXPE head coach John Michael “Zico” Dizon shared that he plans to keep the new-look EVOS lineup come playoff time.
“We are still trying a lot of things on practice, sa team, pero since maganda yung result last week, yes, ‘yun na ‘yung lineup for playoffs. Renejay will stick on the exp lane, Hesa on the gold lane,” Zico said in a chat with Manila Bulletin.
It will be NXP’s third playoff stint since qualifying to the MPL in Season 6, but the team failed to get past the first round in two occasions. While his team is looking to perform better than the previous finishes, Zico was quick to temper expectations for NXP.
“Two times na nakapag playoffs ‘yung team first round exit lang talaga. Third ito, pero first playoffs sa franchise league. Wala kami expectations kasi nakakadisappoint kapag hindi namin na-meet yun,” Zico explained.
“Ang ginagawa namin nagse-set lang kami ng goal, and 'di kami tumitigil mag-training para mas ma-improve and maging better pa kami than we are last week,” he added.
Zico, however, clarified that his team is not looking too far ahead yet as it still has two games to play in the final week of the regular season.
The former player-turned coach stressed the importance of winning the last two assignments to sustain their momentum coming to the playoffs and have a favorable placing at the end of the eliminations.
“Bibigay pa din namin yung best namin kasi gusto namin mabigyan ng magandang laban yung kalaban namin para mag enjoy yung mga fans and bashers to prove na hindi kami palaging nasa dulo. Mahalaga din sa’min yung placement at the end of the regular season,” said Zico.