If there’s one person outside Blacklist International who can relate to the decision of Jonmar “OhmyV33nus” Villaluna and Danerie “Wise” Del Rosario, it has to be Bren Esports head coach and M2 World champion Francis “Duckeyy” Glindro.
In a series of Facebook story on Monday, Jan. 10, Duckeyyy was asked to comment on the decision of V33Wise to take a break after grueling championship runs in 2021.
The Bren coach lauded the decision while admitting that it is something his players should have also done after winning the M2 World championship in January last year.
“This is actually one of my biggest failures after M2. I knew for a fact that some of my players are on the verge of burnout. I didn’t heed on my instincts and still let them decide if they want to continue,” Duckeyy admitted.
Bren actually had a stellar run even before winning the M2 World Championship, claiming the title in the MPL Philippines Season 6 before finishing second in the MPL Invitational. The crew finished atop the M2 World championship but the squad’s performance quickly spiraled down since then.
Bren failed to defend its title in Season 7 which eventually went to Blacklist before falling short of making to the playoffs for the first time in its franchise history in Season 8.
The series of misfortunes eventually spelled doom to Bren’s M2 winning roster as M2 MVP Karl “Karltzy” Nepomuceno departed from the team to join ECHO while CJ “Ribo” Ribo decided to sit out for the upcoming season.
Duckeyyy praised the champion duo for their decision to rest for one season despite the momentum being on Blacklist's side after winning M3 and with the team still in a position to create history with a possible three-peat in Season 9.
“VeeWise had made a remarkable decision to take its slow. They are young, relatively, and I’m sure one season off is not gonna do them harm. Never underestimate the power of rest,” he added.