ECHO squandered a commanding 2-0 series lead but recovered just in time in Game 5 to hack out a 3-2 victory against Team HAQ in the upper bracket quarterfinals of the M4 World Championship at the Tennis Indoor Stadium Senayan in Bali, Indonesia on Saturday, Jan. 7.
The Philippine representatives, after losing the last two games that allowed their Malaysian counterparts to even the series, regained their foothold in the winner-take-all Game 5 to forge a huge collision with MPL Indonesia powerhouse Onic Esports led by Filipino star jungler Kairi “Kairi” Rayosdelsol.
Alston “Sanji” Pabico led the way in the series clincher with a 5-1-4 line on his signature Yve while Benedict “BennyQT” Gonzales and Karl “Karltzy” Nepomuceno were equally impressive with a 2-1-4 and 2-1-5 KDAs on the Brody and jungle Fredrinn picks.
ECHO made a little tweak on its draft that saw Tristan “Yawi” Cabrera pick a roaming Kaja which enabled the Filipinos to put on the pressure to HAQ and finish the game 11-4 in just 11 minutes of play.
ECHO actually looked poised to go on a sweep in the series with BennyQt capping a splendid performance of 11-3-3 line on the Karrie with a huge back door play at the 24th minute to draw the series first blood.
He then scored a Maniac in the final clash in Game 2 as ECHO completed a wipeout to take a 2-0 lead in the series.
ECHO faced some resistance from HAQ in Game 3 with a tight 15-14 win before completing its own backdoor play in Game 4 to force the deciding the match.
Meanwhile, Kairi spearheaded Onic’s huge 3-0 sweep over Burmese crew Falcon Esports on the other side of the bracket. Onic and ECHO lock horns on Thursday, Jan. 12.