KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA -- The journey to the golden road has ended for Filipino imports John “Innocent” Banal, Mark “Kramm” Rusiana and coach Michael “Arcadia” Bocado after the Selangor Red Giants got the boot from Indonesia’s Team Liquid, 3-0, in the lower bracket finals of the M6 World Championship at the Axiata Arena here on Saturday, Dec. 14.

The hometown bets just couldn’t keep the momentum going from their earlier 3-0 victory over Team Secret in the lower bracket semifinals, failing to overcome the biggest roadblock in the well-rested Indonesian champions.

Although refusing to make excuses, Arcadia admitted that playing two series in a day had certainly played a factor on the outcome of their match against TLID.

“Sa akin may factor siya (fatigue). Let’s be realistic, if you’re playing two games in one day, syempre mapaghahandaan ka and then bawas ‘yung stamina mo,” said Arcadia.

“Ang advantage mo lang siguro is galing ka sa winning momentum, pero kung paguusapan tungkol sa fatigue level, for sure mas mababa energy mo,” he added.

That seemed to be the case for SRG in the series opener as TLID outplayed the hometown bets almost in every lane. The Red Giants did show some flashes of brilliance but were outlasted by the Indonesian champions during the big objective fights.

Sultan “Aeronnshikii” Muhammad set the tone for the surprising rout with an 8-1-3 line on the Granger in Game 1, outplaying M6 sensation Innocent who only had a 3-2-7 KDA on the Bruno pick.

Favian “Faviann” Putra then followed suit in Game 2 and unloaded a perfect 5-0-5 performance on the Suyou on the second game, powering TLID to match point with a 14-12 victory.

Aeronnshikii also shone with a 5-1-6 line on the Moskov.

Sensing the blood in the water, TLID simply went for the kill in Game 3 and dominated the SRG with a masterful 13-2 win with Faviann once again taking the starring role with a 6-1-3 KDA on the Suyou.

With the win, TLID arranged a grand finals match against Fnatic Onic Philippines on Sunday, Dec. 15.

It will be the third meeting of the two squads in the M6 with the Filipino champions getting the better of their Indonesian counterparts with 2-0 win in the swiss stage and a 3-1 victory in the upper bracket finals.