The fire of the Phoenix glowed bright in MPL Philippines’ return to the offline setting as Ben “Benthings” Maglaque showed way in TNC Pro Team ML’s 2-0 drubbing of RSG Philippines on Friday, March 4.
Benthings set the pace for TNC in the sweep as he put the clamps on RSG carries in Jhonard “Demonkite” Caranto and Eman “Emann” Sangco to give the Raiders their first taste of defeat in four games.
The TNC skipper secured the first of his back-to-back MVP citation in the series as he pulled off a clutch play on the Tank Chou in Game 1 come-from-behind 10-9 win.
Benthings caught Emann’s Beatrix using his Chou’s way of the dragon ultimate and triggered a huge clash near TNC purple buff pit. RSG was forced to engage but TNC came out on top with crucial kills on Light’s Edith and Emann’s Beatrix.
That allowed TNC to secure the final Lord to help TNC overcome a fiery 7-4 start from RSG behind Demonkite’s 5-0-4 KDA on the Lancelot. Mark “Kramm” Rustana though held the fort for TNC as he provided both the damage and the sustain on his Emeralda during the team fights.
Yasuwo finished with a 6-1-1 KDa on the Clint.
Benthings then followed it up with a 0-2-7 score line on the Franco as TNC coasted to a swift 9-5 victory in Game 2.
Outside the statistics, it was Benthings’ on-point hooks that spelled the difference as he delayed Demonkite’s Lancelot purple buff take in the early game. That forced a reaction from other RSG players allowing Robee “Yasuwo” Pormocille’s Brody and Daniel “SDzyz” Chu’s to have their free reigns in their farm.
Yasuwo finished with a 4-0-1 KDA while Kramm provided support on the Esmeralda with a 2-0-5 line.
TNC now overtook RSG in the standings with an identical 3-1 standing although the former slightly ahead in points with 10 against the latter’s nine markers on the board.
TNC will next face Onic Philippines on Sunday while RSG will engage ECHO in the week’s star match on Saturday.