Fnatic Onic Philippines advanced to the knockout stage after a sweep of its assignments in the swiss stage while Aurora finally broke through to stay in the hunt in the M6 World Championship at the IOI Grand Exhibition and Convention Centre on Sunday, Dec. 1.

The MPL Philippines champions lived up to their lofty billing as Onic took down North America’s BloodThirstyKings, 2-1, to cap a dominant run in the group stage that also saw them defeat Indonesia’s Team Liquid and Cambodia’s CFU Gaming.

Duane “Kelra” Pillas starred in the contest with a surprising Layla pick – marking the hero’s first ever appearance in the world stage.

Kelra, who used the hero to counter pick meta choice Bruno from BTK, did not disappoint with a perfect 5-0-4 KDA  as FNOP slammed the door on the American’s comeback hopes in the series opener.

BTK, however, would not go down without a fight as Filipino gold laner Ziameth “Zia” Caluya refused to get outdone by Kelra and bounced back with a 7-1-7 line on Bruno in the next game.

The Americans dictated the tempo in Game 2 with superb map control, largely due to their efforts on denying FNOP any big objectives.

The Sonics, however, cannot be denied in Game 3 as Kelra took over once more with an 11-1-5 tally on the Irithel pick as the Filipinos joined Indonesia’s RRQ Hoshi in the next round.

Meanwhile, after dropping its first two games that put it on the brink of elimination, Aurora Gaming broke out of its funk just in time with a 2-0 sweep of Turkey’s ULFHEDNAR.

The Northern Lights finally shone bright after a gloomy start that saw them lose against Myanmar’s Falcon Esports and Singapore’s NIP Flash.

With the win, Aurora remained in contention but still has its back on the walls as it still need to win the next round to advance to the playoffs.