After a short break, MPL PH returns for its playoff stage, with the remaining six teams ready to fight for their chance to become champions and reach MSC 2023.
On May 4th, 2023, the Mobile Legends Professional League in the Philippines returns to action to culminate its eleventh season of action.
With six teams going into the playoffs, only four will remain after the first day, as two elimination series await four of the teams.
For Blacklist International, Smart Omega Esports, RSG Slate PH, and ONIC PH, the first day will be a decisive one, as they hope to survive through to the next round where Bren Esports and ECHO are already awaiting.
Blacklist versus Omega
One of the greatest rivalries which we saw for a short period in the PH region was that of Blacklist and Omega, or Execration as they were previously known.
Both these teams have shown their brilliance in different ways over the last few years, although Omega have struggled to find their footing in an ever-evolving region.
With that said, without Salic Hadji Alauya Imam in their squad this season, Blacklist have had to rely on a new mid-lane player, who has not had the same impact.
In the same regard, without Joshua Ch4knu Garcia Mangilog, Omega have not had the best Regular Season and will be hoping to bring out something that can turn the tides on their rivals.
Unfortunately for Omega, their two meetings with Blacklist so far this season have been met with losses but the reigning MPL PH champions definitely have some big flaws which can be taken advantage of.
Losing either of these teams this early will be huge, but it seems as though Omega could finally have an advantage if they avoid the UBE strategy as they used to.
ONIC versus RSG
On one side, ONIC is definitely still trying to build themselves up again after a rebuild and has done rather well to do so with some amazing plays from the team.
On the other is RSG, who is attempting to return to MSC and possibly defend their championship with a few changes to their squad since then.
The Regular Season saw both teams share the spoils, with RSG taking a clean victory in the opening week and ONIC took a strong reverse sweep in Week 5.
Although RSG definitely had the stronger season so far, ONIC has a chance to cause a massive upset on the first day of playoffs.
If the team can shut down John Irrad Darry Abarquez and Nathanael Nathzz Sumpay Estrologo, they can certainly cause some chaos for their opponents, but RSG is not a team that easily gives up which means we could see this being the end for ONICs run this season.
With two elimination series awaiting us on day one of the MPL PH Season 11 playoffs, the tensions will be high for the four teams involved.
While Bren and ECHO will definitely be watching closely to see what they can exploit in the upper bracket semi-finals, the two-week break could prove costly for teams which have not been paying attention to their opponents.
