QUEZON CITY — Team Falcons PH strengthened its push for an upper-bracket playoff spot after handing ONIC Philippines its third loss of the MPL Philippines Season 18 regular season with a 2-1 win Saturday at Victoria Sports Tower.
Playing without head coach Francis “Ducky” Glindro, who was on national team duty, Falcons bounced back from a lopsided Game 2 loss to take the deciding game in under 17 minutes.
Falcons survive ONIC after Game 2 setback
Falcons opened the series with a 17-minute victory, led by roamer Rowgien “Owgwen” Unigo’s Masha.
Owgwen finished with three kills and one assist as Falcons scored six total kills. Salic “Hadji” Imam’s Valentina contributed four assists to the team’s opening-game win.
ONIC answered in Game 2 with a 7-0 sweep to force the deciding game.
Kirk “Kirk” Cuaresma earned MVP honors on Barats despite finishing without a kill, recording five assists and absorbing a team-high 76,000 damage. Meanwhile, King Cyric “K1NGKONG” Perez’s Hirara posted four kills and three assists.
Falcons regained control in Game 3, denying ONIC every major objective throughout the match.
David “Flap” Canon led the way on Minotaur with a 1/2/10 KDA for the MVP award, while Michael “Kyle” Sayson’s Harley added four kills and six assists. Kyle also secured most of the game’s major objectives to help Falcons close out the series.
The win lifted Falcons to an 8-1 record, keeping them behind league-leading Team Liquid PH on game differential. ONIC dropped to 7-3 and also lost the head-to-head matchup against Falcons.
Both teams had already secured playoff spots before Saturday’s series, with Aurora Gaming’s 2-0 win over AP.Bren earlier in the day guaranteeing their qualification.
Aurora extends streak, TNC stays alive
Aurora picked up its third consecutive win by sweeping AP.Bren 2-0, improving to 6-4.
Nathanael “Nathzz” Estrologo led Aurora’s Game 1 win with a 0/1/9 performance on Minotaur in nearly 14 minutes, while Kenneth “Yue” Tadeo took over Game 2 on Zhuxin with seven kills and 11 assists.
AP.Bren fell to 3-8 and now needs to win its remaining three matches to strengthen its position in the playoff race.
TNC Pro Team also kept its playoff hopes alive with a 2-0 sweep of Twisted Minds PH, moving to 4-6. Twisted Minds dropped to 0-10 and has now failed to win a map in its last four matches.
The MPL PH regular season continues Sunday with Smart Omega facing TNC, while Aurora Gaming and Team Falcons close the day’s action.
