ECHO went back to the fundamentals to shake off the gallant TNC ProTeam side, 2-1, in the MPL Philippines Season 9 on Saturday, Feb. 26.
After losing grip of the second game which allowed TNC to give the so-called ‘super team’ its first taste of defeat, ECHO toned down the flashy plays and focused on doing the dirty work to put a stop to TNC’s impressive start in S9. ECHO also took the early lead in the standing with a 3-0 match record good for six points.
An early pressure from Yawi’s tank Chou and Kurttzy’s Yve set the tone for ECHO in the series clinching third game, with Karltzy on the jungle Aulus and Bennyqt on the Beatrix reaching their power spikes with free reigns in the jungle.
With enough damage, ECHO dominated the team fights en route to the swift 13-minute win. Karltzy finished with a 6-1-5 KDA while BennyQT dished out additional firepower from the distance with a neat 3-0-7 stat line.
It was ECHO which actually drew the series’ first blood as it overcame the early game advantage TNC had built behind the fast jungling of SDzyz and the pressure that Benthings on the Jawhead and Escalera on the Natalia.
ECHO, however, slowly took control of the match once it got its hands on the physical armor items to counter TNC physical attack composition. ECHO dominated the team fights for the major objectives as the perfect initiations from Yawi’s tank Chou and the follow up from the rest of the ECHO keyed the squad’s dominant 12-4 win.
Feeling the momentum after the dominant Game 1 win, ECHO seemed to be cruising to another lopsided victory.
TNC, however, punished every over extension from the confident ECHO side to slowly climb back to the game. Kramm on the Uranus held the fort for TNC with a total of 212k damage taken as his team endured the blistering start from ECHO.
TNC then came through in crunch time as its map control proved to be the key for the squad’s come-from-behind 11-13 win.
After a pick-off on Escalera’s Kagura, TNC responded well as SDzyz went for a top lane split push while the rest of the crew contested ECHO’s lord take. That ploy forced a reaction from ECHO as its players split up which led to a pick off on Karltzy’s Paquito and a secured Lord for TNC to force the winner-take-all,