ECHO secured a spot in the playoffs after a dramatic 2-0 sweep of Bren Esports in its final game in the regular season of the MPL Philippines Season 8 on Saturday October 9.
ECHO earned full three points after sweeping the M2 World Champions to rack up its total points to 19 and officially punch a ticket to the playoffs. The win also pushed Bren on brink of elimination after failing to add to its 14 points total.
Veteran players on the side of ECHO stepped up to the plate with Christian “Rafflesia” Fajura starting it off in Game 1 before Benedict “BennyQT” Gonzales put up the finishing touches in the series clinching Game 2.
Echo showed the sense of urgency in the opener as it dominated Bren, 22-7, to secure the first point of the series. Rafflesia on his Mathilda once again dictated the tempo for ECHO with a 2-2-17 KDA while Jaymark “Hadess” Lazaro shone on his Hayabusa with an 8-1-7 score line.
Rafflesia provided the sustain for ECHO to outplay Bren in every team fight, most evident in the two crucial clashes in the game. First in the Lord dance at the nine-minute mark when ECHO wiped out Bren and in the final fight that took out four heroes to seal the game for ECHO in 14 minutes of play.
Pressured to deliver points to keep their playoff fate within its control, Bren embarked to an inspired rally to open up Game 2. Bren focused on their objective game and took down all of Echo’s towers with only 11 minutes passed in the game.
ECHO, after a huge defensive stance to protect its base, rallied behind BennyQt’s Alice which turned the tides to their favor. BennyQT stole the Luminous Lord from Bren’s hands which ultimately sealed the victory and gave ECHO the ticket to the playoffs.
BennyqT took the MVP honors with a 5-2-4 KDA to help ECHO score the come-from-behind 12-13 win.
Bren still has the chance to catch the last bus to the playoffs but it badly needs a sweep against league-leading Blacklist International while praying that RSG Philippines will also get swept by Onic Philippines in their respective games on Sunday.