Michael “MP the King” Endino passed his debut with flying colors as he guided Nexplay Evos to a clean 2-0 sweep of the M3 runner-up Onic Philippines to barge to the win column of the MPL Philippines Season 9 on Sunday, Feb. 20.
NXPE gave Onic PH a dose of its own medicine as the Season 8 fourth placers banked on its non-stop rotations and jungle control to topple the mighty Onic.
MP the King didn’t disappoint as he took John Paul “H2wo” Salonga’s main five spot with a 6-1-5 KDA on the Karina pick in the opening game and an uber-efficient 2-0-0 score line on the Roger in the series clincher.
However, it was the duo of Kenneth “Cadenza” Castro and Jeniel “Yellyhaze” Bata-anon who made the biggest impact in the series as they took turns in harassing Kairi “Kairi” Rayosdelsol to create the space for MP the King and assert jungle control all series long.
The combination plays from Yellyhaze’s Yve and Cadenza’s Ruby worked wonders for Nexplay in Game 1 as they provide the pokes and damage to peel the HP of Onic heroes while setting up the table for MP the King to harvest the kills.
A three-man pick off on Onic after a counter engage in the top lane from NXPE at the eight-minute mark allowed the latter to take control of the match. It also neutralized the early game centric composition of Onic as NXPE rolled to an 18-6 Game 1 win.
Yellyhaze finished with a 2-2-13 KDA while Cadenza added a 3-0-8 score.
NXPE put up the same game in Game 2 if not a much cleaner execution as they took the series despite trailing in the final tally, 3-8.
Just like in Game 1, it was the midlane duo of Yellyhaze and Cadenza that hampered the jungle rotation of Kairi on the Yi-Sun Shin pick. Cadeza’s Hilda was nearly unkillable in that match as he baited Onic to utilize his ultimate on him and soak all the damage and still come out unscathed from the attacks thanks to Yellyhaze’s Mathilda.
The split push of Ureshi on the Benedetta also melted the towers of Onic allowing MP the King to gain free access of the resources within Onic’s map. NXPE continued with the same ploy throughout the 14-minute duration of the match as Onic struggled to find answers to the non-stop aggression from NXPE.