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Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Esports devider Team Falcons, Team Liquid post contrasting starts in MSC at EWC

Team Falcons, Team Liquid post contrasting starts in MSC at EWC

Published Jul 23, 2026 10:35 pm

At A Glance

  • Team Falcons went off to a rousing start while Team Liquid suffered a shock defeat in contrasting starts for Philippine representatives in the Mid-Season Cup in the 2026 Esports World Cup in Paris, France.

Team Falcons went off to a rousing start while Team Liquid suffered a shock defeat in contrasting starts for Philippine representatives in the Mid-Season Cup in the 2026 Esports World Cup in Paris, France.

The MSC 2025 champion TLPH suffered a shocking 0-2 defeat at the hands of Aurora Gaming Turkiye on Thursday, July 23, while the MPL Philippines Season 17 runners-up Team Falcons made quick work of Guangzhou Gaming, 2-0, the day prior.

The biggest story, however, was the stunning defeat of TLPH, which, due to the setback, dropped to the lower bracket of the Group B double-elimination and one loss away from a group stage exit in the tournament.

The writings were clearly on the wall for Karl “Karltzy” Nepomuceno–led TLPH right on the opening game as they struggled against a sustain-heavy lineup from Aurora in the opening game.

Their Turkish rivals dominated the jungle battle and raced to a commanding 18-1 kill advantage and never looked back since then finishing the contest in under 10 minutes. 

Although showing some resistance in Game 2, the MPL Philippines titlists remained a shadow of their usual selves as they surrendered the base in just 14 minutes. 

They will take on Entity 7 from Peru for the chance to stay in the title hunt. E7 lost 0-2 to the Kairi “Kairi” Rayosdelsol and Duane “Kelra” Pillas-led Onic Indonesia.

Meanwhile, Team Falcons hardly broke a sweat in their opening game against Chinese team Guangzhou Gaming.

Making its return to the MSC stage after a two-season absence, Team Falcons immediately reintroduced themselves with Marco “ Super Marco” Requitano exploding for a 7-2-5 KDA on Brody, highlighted by a double during the final base siege to end the contest under 16 minutes.

Guangzhou Gaming tried to drag the game to a winner-take-all Game 3 after a strong start in the second game, but all Team Falcons needed was to pick off the Chinese squad’s jungler to turn things around.

David “Flap” Canon then provided the setup on his Sora as Marco and Kyle “Kyle” Sayson followed through with a pair of double kills to end the series.

Related Tags

MSC 2026 Esports Esports World Cup Team Liquid PH Team Falcons PH
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