Onic Philippines team captain Allen “Baloyskie” Baloy was glad that his squad was able to quickly recover from the first game hiccup where the Philippine representatives lost to Onic Indonesia to start its M3 World Championship campaign.
The PH bets were poised to cruise to the victory after dominating Onic ID for the most part of the game if not for the disastrous Lord take where four Onic PH heroes got picked off and allowed the Indonesians to go for a one-lane death push and snatch the win.
The loss, however, only lit the fire in Onic PH according to Baloyskie.
“Mas nahype kami kasi di kami pwede matalo kahit isang game so all in na talaga and good thing naman we are a team so nakapagreset agad kami ng mentality,” said the Onic captain who moved to the roaming role for M3 as Jaylord “Hatred” Gonzales’ took his midlane role.
After the loss, Onic PH bounced back and swept all of its remaining assignments against Malaysian team Todak and Brazilian squad Keyd stars.
Baloyskie said the team expected to top Group B despite of it being tagged as the tournament’s Group of Death. Although the team had to go through tough competition and two crucial matches after the opening game loss, Baloyskie was proud of what his team has accomplished especially now that both PH squads, Onic PH and Blacklist International, secured their upper bracket spots.
“Syempre masaya kasi nameet namin ‘yung expectation namin. Ineexpect talaga namin na mag come up kami ng top one kahit na do-or-die sya na mag top one kami and kahit 2-1 yun masaya naman,” said Baloy.
Onic PH’s top one finish wouldn’t be possible if not for the shock loss of Onic ID to Todak and Keyd Stars – something that Baloyskie admitted that he didn’t expect.
“Ineexpect namin na i-wipe out nila yung bracket kasi for us, sa amin sila pinakamahihirapan. Nagulat talaga kami na natalo sila ng Vivo (Keyd) and ng Todak kasi para sa amin sila talaga yung pinaka-tight namin na ka-compete sa bracket na yun,” said Baloyskie.
Onic PH will now have time to rest and prepare as it awaits its upper bracket opponent. M3 playoffs start Dec. 11.