INDONESIAN powerhouse RRQ Hoshi simply couldn’t make a repeat of their previous sterling performance when they beat RSG PH in their first face-off as they were trounced this time by the Pinoy team in a sensational 4-0 sweep to emerge champions and the new Kings of Southeast Asia (SEA) with their victory in the grand finals of the Mobile Legends SEA Cup 2022 at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Center in Kuala Lumpur.
Before their outstanding performance over rival Indonesia, the Mobile Legends Professional League (MPL) Philippines Season 9 champion refused to die as it prevailed over compatriot team Omega Esports, 3-2, to book a grand finals rematch with RRQ Hoshi. The second meeting between the two esports heavyweights, however, had no semblance of their first encounter as the Filipinos went to trash the Indonesians to take home the lion’s share of the US$300,000—or roughly a cool PhP16 million—prize pool.
Composed of Dylan Aaron ‘Light’ Catipon, Eman ‘EMANN’ Sangco, Jonard Cedrix ‘Demonkite’ Caranto, Arvie ‘Aqua’ Antonio and Nathanael ‘Nathzz’ Estrologo, RSG PH went charging into this prestigious tourney with Karl Luigi ‘Coach Giee’ Barrientos after their head coach in Brian ‘Panda’ Lim begged off for undisclosed reasons.
RSG’s MSC 2022 campaign began smoothly at the start until they suffered an unexpected setback from RRQ Hoshi in the upper bracket finals, 1-3, and were thus relegated to the lower bracket finals.
“We lacked sleep (in the first match), we were not fully prepared. Now, we competed with enough sleep and we have planned our draft and strategy for them. It was an easy 4-0 win for us,” said RSG PH team captain Light.
Aside from winning the championship, RSG PH’s gold laner EMANN, meanwhile, received the Playoffs Most Valuable Player citation. The 17-year-old, in an interview, rationalized RRQ Hoshi’s heartbreaking loss to its lack of hero pool which spelled their doom in the grand finals.
“Their weakness as a five-man team is VYN (Calvin) because he can only play Franco. When he plays a different hero, he seems average in Mobile Legends,” EMANN pointed out.
Coach Giee agreed, adding that they carefully studied the strategy that their Indonesian foes were about to execute: “We learned their draft in the upper bracket. We tested our limits in the first and second game. It made me realize that their strong heroes are Franco and Claude. From there, we gained confidence and punished them in the finals.”
