By REYNALD MAGALLON
Karl “Karltzy” Nepomuceno wreaked havoc on his Hayabusa and surprise jungle pick Sun to power Bren Esports to a crucial 2-1 victory over TNC Pro Team in the MPL Philippines Season 8 on Saturday, October 2.
After dropping Game 1, the Bren Esports star jungler came alive in Game 2 and was untouchable on his Hayabusa, finishing with game-high nine kills to go with six assists and without a death. He then shocked TNC with a surprise jungler Sun pick that finished with four kills and five assists against a single death to help the M2 World Champions pull off a reverse sweep.
TNC, which was coming off a 2-0 sweep of RSG on Friday, was oozing with confidence as it quickly took control of Game 1 behind perfect initiations from Patrick “P-God” Ibarra’s Selena and Dylan “Light” Catipon’s roaming Barats. The two finished with a 4-0-5 and 2-1-5 KDAs respectively while Daniel “Chuuu” Chu on his Hayabusa put up a perfect 2-0-8 stat line in a dominating 14-2 win in the series opener.
That was the wake-up call Bren needed though as it returned the favor in Game 2 with a 15-8 beatdown of TNC. Allan “Lusty” Castromayor on his Chou and Angelo “Pheww” Arcangel on his Harley were aggressive right from the get go, something Bren lacked in their Game 1 loss.
Bren leaned on the poke mechanics of their heroes as Lusty and Phewww finished with 1-3-9 and 4-1-7 KDAs while leaving the clean up job to Karltzy after every clash.
Bren never let go of that momentum from that point as it completely shut down TNC in Game 3. David “Flaptzy” Canon on his Esmeralda led the charge for BREN with a 3-1-8 KDA to take the MVP honors. Karltzy on his Sun and Phewww on his Pharsa did the damage for BREN as Lusty’s Baxia provided the sustain for his team.
With the win, Bren created some separation from the bottom two teams in the standings with 14 points on 5–6-win loss cards.
Meanwhile, the loss was a big hit to TNC’s playoff chances as it still sits in seventh place with a 3-8 record and with only 11 points to show.