MPL PH Season 18 kicked off in epic fashion with the league’s heavyweights colliding in the opening matches. ONIC PH made a massive statement with a crisp 2-0 sweep over Aurora Gaming, while Team Falcons PH completed a wild 2-1 reverse sweep to take down Team Liquid PH on August 21.
ONIC Dominates
Many pegged the Super Family as the team to watch coming into Season 18—and ONIC showed exactly why, dismantling the new-look Aurora Gaming PH from start to finish.
ONIC delivered a masterclass in Game 1, establishing an early stranglehold and completely shutting down RORA. By the 12-minute mark, ONIC controlled all neutral objectives, ballooned a near 10k gold lead, and left Aurora scoreless on the kill board. Unable to mount any defense, Aurora folded shortly after. Kirk was a juggernaut on Barats, dictating the frontline and earning Game MVP honors with a clean 2/0/4 statline.
Aurora managed a stronger start in Game 2, standing toe-to-toe with ONIC early. But a perfectly timed Divine Judgement from Super Yoshi at the 3-minute mark broke the stalemate, granting ONIC two crucial kills and the momentum. From there, Aurora unraveled. ONIC PH seized full control and closed with a four-man wipeout to seal the sweep.
The return of Czedrick “Super Yoshi” Romero proved pivotal. Stepping into the starting roamer role, he delivered a flawless 0/0/5 performance on Mathilda in Game 1, then dominated Game 2 with a 4/0/9 line on Kaja to capture match MVP honors.
Team Falcons Soar Past Liquid
Meanwhile, Team Falcons opened their campaign with an impressive come-from-behind victory against the defending MPL PH champions.
Liquid looked unstoppable in Game 1. Led by KarlTzy on Paquito, TLPH stormed to an 11-0 kill lead and a near 10k gold advantage within eight minutes before closing out the opener at the 11-minute mark.
The S17 runners-up flipped the script in Game 2. Falcons surged ahead early, dictating the map and securing objectives. Liquid fought back, though. At the 8-minute mark, Jaypee’s Badang landed a perfect Fist Crack onto three Falcons, enabling KarlTzy on Hirara to pocket a triple kill. Later, Liquid mounted a successful base defense, taking down three Falcons.
Despite the pushback, Falcons stayed composed. At the 13-minute mark, Kyle and SuperMarco eliminated Sanji, then picked off the remaining members of Liquid one by one to force a decisive Game 3.
The decider began as a tense back-and-forth, with Liquid holding a slight edge. But at the 8-minute mark, SuperMarco picked off three members of Liquid in a pivotal skirmish, giving Falcons the economy to pull ahead.
Liquid refused to go quietly. At the 18-minute mark, they punished FlapTzy, allowing KarlTzy to secure the Lord. Escorting it straight into the Falcons’ base, Liquid looked poised to end the series. But just as the champions were about to seal the deal, Hadji delivered a game-changing play. Stealing Atlas’ Fatal Links, he snared both KarlTzy and Teddy, enabling Falcons to eliminate Liquid’s main damage dealers and flip the game.
Marco “SuperMarco” Requitiano stood out as the anchor for Team Falcons throughout the comeback, putting up an impressive 6/1/7 KDA on Claude in Game 2 and a stellar 9/1/4 performance on Brody in Game 3.
