RSG Philippines head coach Brian “Panda” Lim admitted that he used his squad’s seven-game losing streak against Nexplay Evos as an extra motivation to push his wards to deliver in their solid debut in the MPL PH Season 9 on Saturday, Feb. 19.
Speaking in the aftermath of the match where his wards delivered a 2-0 sweep of their last season’s tormentors, Coach Panda revealed that RSG was eager to finally end the slump against NXPE right on their first meeting in the season.
“Gunning for vengeance, time to bawi na kasi last season we never had a good game against them kahit single beses. We're always gigil and hungry to comeback and give them a taste of defeat,” said Panda.
NXPE had RSG’s number in the last season, sweeping the so-called ‘Kingslayers’, 2-0 in their two meetings. The two squads once again met in the first round of the playoffs where NXPE swept RSG, 3-0, to put a bitter end for the solid rookie season for the Coach Panda-mentored squad.
NXPE continued to dominate RSG even outside MPL when the two battled for the Grand Finals spot in the lower bracket of the Sibol qualifiers. Although RSG finally won a game against NXPE, the latter still came out on top with a 3-1 series win.
“NXPE was the kryptonite of RSG and I really felt that inside my heart so when I heard that NXPE is our first enemy, I told them let's overcome it against NXPE and let's make bawi,” added coach Panda.
Jhonard “Demonkite” Caranto and Eman “Emann” Sangco quickly obliged and stepped up to the plate to help RSG finally solve the NXPE puzzle. The two took turns in the sweep with Emann dazzling in his MPL debut with a perfect 4-0-7 showing in Game 1.
Demonkite then finished what Emann has started with a 5-2-6 line on the Lancelot to formally end the dry spell against NXPE.
With RSG finally getting its first win over NXPE, Coach Panda now hopes to return the favor and assert mastery over the MPL S8 fourth placer in their next encounters.
“Sana we can also be the kryptonite against NXPE.”