Defending champion Smart Omega Esports failed to protect its seat in the upper bracket as hometown bet Todak pulled off a pulsating 2-1 victory in the MSC 2022 at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre on Tuesday, June 14.
After two thrilling finishes that saw both teams completing comebacks in Games 1 and 2, Todak scored a wire-to-wire triumph in the decider behind the stellar showing from Zikry "Moon" Bin Shamsuddin who safely dished out the damage from afar with his Yve pick.
The Malaysian team quickly seized control of the early game with Idreen "Momo" Bin Abdul Jamalis on the Baxia prevailing in his jungle battle against the Karina pick of Christian “Raizen” Sumagui.
Unlike in the second game where they became impatient in their siege, Todak showed more discipline in the series clincher as they carefully marched to Omega base, shutting down any hopes of comeback sets from Joshua “Ch4knu” Mangilog’s Atlas.
Todak closed out the series with a 20-8 triumph with Moon unloading a perfect 4-0-13 line while Momo added a 4-1-12 display.
Omega started out the series with a stellar showing in the opener where it quickly took command of the match. Todak, though, banked on its base defense in the mid and late game before finally getting the break when the Filipinos overstayed on the enemy base.
The Malaysians then made them pay, scoring a wipeout to go for a one-lane push and take the first point of the series with a 19-14 come-from-behind win.
Refusing to go down without a fight, Omega then flaunted its own comeback genes as the Filipinos returned the favor in Game 2 to force the winner-take-all.
Patrick “E2max'' Caidic on the Cecilion and Duane “Kelra” Pillas on the Claude made the big plays down the stretch to score the equalizer although they both failed to replicate the performance in the crucial Game 3.