Eman “Emann” Sangco and Jhonard “Demonkite” Caranto provided one-two punch for RSG Philippines as it finally scored its first series win against Nexplay Evos, 2-0, in the MPL Philippines Season 9 on the Saturday, Feb. 19.
Emann and Demonkite took turns in the series sweep as RSG ended the dry spell against NXPE which had a 7-0 game win streak against the former having won its last three encounters in the regular season and the playoffs of Season 8 with sweeps.
NXPE even extended that series win streak to four when it also defeated RSG PH, 3-1, in the Sibol qualifiers in January.
Emann was a vital cog in rewriting the story as he shone in the series opener with a neat 4-0-7 KDA to power RSG to its first MPL game win over NXPE, 14-10.
RSG endured a searing start of NXPE behind the aggression from Cadenza’s Jawhead and the returning S4gitnu’s Ruby.
Once Emann got his items on his gold lane Beatrix, RSG initiated the counter-attack and had a double kill on NXPE frontliners in Cadenza and S4gitnu which allowed the squad to secure the first Lord. RSG took control from that point as Demonkite, after reaching his power spike, also joined the fray to still finish with a 4-2-7 tally despite the slow start.
Game 2 was déjà vu of some sort for RSG as just like in the opening game, it only needed to survive the initial onslaught from NXPE before its main damage dealers took over and take control of the match.
It was Demonkite who spearheaded the attack for RSG as he secured a triple kill in a 4-1 trade down bottom lane at seven-minute mark to turn the tides to their favor.
RSG PH rolled from that point as it put on the pressure on NXPE from all fronts to eventually end the series with a dominant, 12-3 win.
Demonkite finished with a 5-2-6 line on the Lancelot while Emann continued to flourish in the gold lane on his Clint with a 4-0-4 score line. Arvie “Aqua” Antonio also imposed problems on NXPE, specifically on John Paul “H2wo” Salonga’s Ling to finish with perfect 3-0-3 KDA.