Jonard Cedrix “Demonkite” Caranto and the RSG Philippines turned back ECHO, 2-1, in their all-Filipino matchup to advance to the quarterfinals of ONE Esports: MPL Invitational on Thursday, November 4.
Demonkite showed up in the series-clinching Game 3 as he powered MPL PH's "King Slayers" to a quarterfinals clash against the kings of MPL Indonesia, Onic Esports.
The MPL Season 8 best rookie saved his best for last with his jungle Benedetta as he unloaded a 5-1-2 KDA in Game 3 highlighted by a huge triple kill after securing the Luminous Lord at the 18-minute mark of the game. RSG rookie Eman "EMANN" Sangco and veteran Kenneth "Kenji" Villa also played perfect music together on their Claude and Esmeralda pick as they disrupted ECHO formation in that final Lord take.
RSG closed out the series on 9-10 tally in Game 3 with Demonkite taking the MVP honors.
Both team battled tooth and nail in the first two games with ECHO prevailing in Game 1 after a excellent base defense against ECHO’s Lord march at the 22-minute mark of the game.
With the lone turret standing, Aqua made a clutch play on his Yve using his Real World Manipulation to stop ECHO’s Lord push. Aqua dished out the damage from afar and effectively zoned out the ECHO player to prevent a tower lock.
RSG then called for a counter initiation that took down two heroes from ECHO before going for their own death push. Aqua then used his ultimate to perfection once again, controlling three heroes from ECH and allowing the rest of RSG players to destroy ECHO’s base and score the first point of the series after 25 minutes of play.
Aqua was hailed game MVP with 4-2-7 KDA in Game 1
The same story ran in Game 2 although its end went to ECHO’s favor.
ECHO took control of the early game in Game 2 as it put on the pressure on Demonkite’s Ling by denying his purple buff and forcing him to use his Tempest of Blades to dodge the attacks.
It was an intense tug-of-war for both teams during the Lord dance at the 22-minute mark. Benedict "BennyQt" Gonzales on his Chou initiated the huge team fight with a crucial two-man knock up using Jeet-Kune-Do which perfectly fell to Rion "RK3" Kudo’s Feathered Air Strike that instantly burst two heroes on RSG’s side.
That clash then allowed ECHO to take the second Luminous Lord and even the series after a low scoring affair, 10-5 in 25 minutes of play in Game 2.
RK3 shone on his Pharsa with a 4-1-4 KDA while Chirstian "Rafflesia" Fajura on whose main role is to harass Demonkite’s Ling finished with a 1-2-9 score line on his Mathilda