Team Philippines strengthened its contender status as both of its representatives—Team Liquid and Aurora Gaming PH—punched their tickets to the next stage of the M7 World Championship after delivering impressive wins in Round 4 of the Swiss Stage on Thursday, January 15.
Bounce Back for Team Liquid After M7 Loss
Team Liquid, the reigning MPL and MSC champions, continued their march toward the Golden Road of M7, bouncing back from a hard-fought loss to SRG with a clean 2–0 sweep of Myanmar’s Yangon Galacticos.
Hungry for the win, the Cavalry came out firing in Game 1. Despite Team Liquid’s early momentum, Yangon Galacticos were able to strike back, securing key objectives of their own. The contest remained tight and intense until the Apex Predator rose to the occasion. At the 14-minute mark, with YG getting the upper hand in a team fight, Sanford’s Yu Zhong dove deep into the backline to shut down their gold laner. Left in a dangerous position and pursued by two opponents, Sanford somehow turned the play in his favor—taking down mid-laner Lina before making his escape.
He didn’t stop there. Sanford delivered once more in the decisive team fight at the 20-minute mark, paving the way for Team Liquid to secure the Lord and close out the game, taking a 1–0 series lead.
Yangon Galacticos put up a strong fight in Game 2, but Team Liquid remained in control. YG made some plays, yet TL consistently responded, keeping the pressure on. Sanford once again stole the spotlight near the 10-minute mark. Taking heavy damage from YG, he somehow survived and turned the fight around, setting up a five-man wipe for the Cavalry. From that point on, Team Liquid took full control, steamrolling their opponents to secure the game.
Redemption for Aurora Gaming
Aurora Gaming, on the other hand, redeemed themselves after bowing out early in the Swiss Stage in M6, with a commanding 2–0 win against Team Spirit in M7 action.
But it was far from easy, as Team Spirit dominated early in Game 1, finding strong initiations across the map and capitalizing on Aurora’s early mistakes. Sunset Lover’s Pharsa caused constant problems, pushing Aurora into an early 7–3 kill deficit and a 3.5k gold gap.
RORA finally found an opening near the 13-minute mark, when Jonard “Demonkite” Caranto’s Yi Sun-shin secured a triple kill. Hiko responded with a double kill on Claude to even out the skirmish, but a reckless mistake from Sunset Lover was quickly punished by Dylan “Light” Catipon, helping Aurora close the gap. Despite losing momentum, TS regrouped and won a crucial team fight at the 15:30 mark, securing the Lord and taking down one of Aurora’s inner turrets. At that point, TS appeared to have full control of the map and the game.
However, in the final team fight, everything unraveled for Team Spirit. Although they secured the Lord once more, Edward’s Sora turned the tide by catching Hiko out of position and eliminating him before following it up with a takedown on Sunset Lover. The sequence led to a five-man wipe and completed Aurora’s stunning comeback win in Game 1.
Eager to extend the series, Team Spirit once again jumped out to a strong start in Game 2. This time, however, Aurora quickly answered back, evening things out by securing four takedowns following a Turtle fight that initially went to Team Spirit.
It was a completely different Jan “Domeng” del Mundo in Game 2, as he was sharp from the opening minutes on Granger, racking up five early kills. Yue also made a much bigger impact on Zhuxin, and with cleaner execution across the board, Aurora took control of the game. The nationals also won a decisive team fight and secured the Lord at the 15-minute mark, extending their lead and setting up a siege on Team Spirit’s base. However, TS held firm with disciplined defense, momentarily stalling Aurora’s push.
The breakthrough came through Dylan “Light” Catipon on Chip. Slipping behind enemy lines, Light found Hiko isolated and immediately activated Chip’s ultimate, Shortcut, to pull his teammates into position. The play resulted in a swift takedown of Team Spirit’s gold laner, stripping them of their primary damage source. With Hiko down, Team Spirit could no longer hold their ground. Aurora picked off the remaining defenders one by one, sealing the game and securing the series win.
Both Team Liquid and Aurora Gaming PH now await the conclusion of the Swiss Stage to find out their opponents in the knockout stage of M7, which begins on January 18.
