Daniel “SDzyz” Chu and Ben “Benthings” Maglaque joined hands to carry TNC Pro Team ML past Omega Esports, 2-1, in their second round meeting in the regular season of the MPL Philippines Season 9 on Friday, March 18.
After failing to close out the opening game despite holding on to an early lead, SDzyz and Benthings conspired to lead the attack for TNC in Games 2 and 3 to sweep its regular season matchup against Omega.
Unlike their first meeting which TNC won via a 2-0 sweep, the crew faced tough challenge this time as Omega took the first point of the series.
Omega endured the early game pressure from TNC anchored on the trio of SDzyz’s Karina, Benthings’ Diggie and Escalera’s surprise Odette pick which shut down Raizen’s jungle Paquito.
With the focus of the attack on Raizen, Kelra on the Beatrix went untouched in the gold lane to even secure two core items as early as the 10-minute mark of the game.
That investment ultimately paid off in the late game as Kelra completed a Lord steal before dominating the team fights in the ensuing plays to help Omega notch the first point of the series after a 13-6 win.
He unloaded a neat 3-0-2 display while Raizen bucked the slow start to still finish with a 4-2-3 line.
TNC stuck to its game plan in second game but this time, the squad made sure to put a body on Kelra’s Beatrix to limit his farming. SDzyz continued his fast-paced farming, even taking it a notch higher with a critical build on the Ling.
Benthings’ Khufra made the difference in the match as his perfect setups and aggressive initiation set up the pace for TNC which rolled to a swift 16-5 win. SDzyz led the way with a 6-1-5 display while Benthings orchestrated the onslaught with a 1-1-8 score line.
Yasuwo on the surprise Karrie pick was also a huge factor for TNC as he peeled off the HP bars of Omega’s tanky frontline with Ch4knu’s Grock and Renzio’s Esmeralda.
TNC continued to roll in the decider as SDzyz ran wild on his Lancelot equipped with his signature Demon Slayer emblem. With Benthings disrupting Raizen’s Karina using his tank Jawhead, SDzyz easily built a gold lead and quickly converted it to kills.
SDzyz finished with a perfect 2-0-3 KDA while Benthings added a 1-0-6 line in TNC clean 8-0 Game 3 win.