Orange Esports came through with a clutch Lord steal in a marathon Game 3 to outlast Filipino coach John Michael “Zico” Dizon and MPL Cambodian champion Burn X Flash in the MPL Invitational opener on Wednesday, Nov. 2.
The M4 World Championships-bound Burn squandered a sizeable margin before faltering in the late game of the over 30-minute match with Filipino gold laner Hesa getting picked off in the final Lord dance before OE’s Soloaim on the Lolita completed the Lord steal to put the series to rest.
Burn actually had the chance to close out the series when it scored a four-man wipe of the Malaysian crew but couldn’t capitalize as Burn still had to defend its base against a marching Luminous Lord down bottom lane.
Amelenz showed the way with a 7-3-2 line on the Irithel, fully taking advantage of the four-protect-one setup of Orange Esports to give the Cambodian champs the early boot.
Orange Esports went off to a rousing start in the opening game, taking down Burn X Flash's outer towers as early as the first nine minutes of the match. The Mathilda and Pharsa picks worked wonders for the Malaysian crew especially during the objective team fight evident in the three turtles and four Lords secured.
Despite the dominant game, Burn X Flash managed to hold the contest to the late game, allowing its core heroes in Hesa’s Claude and C Cat’s Cecilion picks to reach their power spikes. However, a pick-off on ATM’s Esmeralda dashed all the hopes for Burn X Flash to contest for the final Lord as OE secured a 13-3 Game 1 win behind the perfect 7-0-5 Amelen’s Brody.
ATM made up for the late game blunder in Game 2 as he held the frontline using his unkillable Uranus pick, helping the Cambodian champions overcome another good start from Orange Esports.
A sneaky Lord and a wipeout on the Orange Esports at the 16-minute mark turned the tables for Burn X Flash as the team went to cruise with a 14-19 come-from-behind victory to equalize the series.