Hey there MPL fans! Did you manage to check out today’s Playoffs matches? Were you onsite, or watching from elsewhere? Well, regardless, I hope you enjoyed the matches!

If you want to catch up on what happened, or you just need a refresher, here you go. Check it out!

To summarise, the eliminated teams for Day 1 were: XPAX X-Assins, Shopee Bosskurr, Geek Fam, and Notorious Villains.

You can refer to the bracket for upcoming match-ups below!

EVOS Esports SG 2-0 Resurgence

The day started with a match between two Singaporean juggernauts, EVOS and RSG, with both teams having taken 2nd place in the finals of previous seasons (S2 and S3 for EVOS, S1 for RSG).

It’s not hard to see why EVOS has been hailed as the strongest Singaporean team. From the start of Game 1, EVOS was playing aggressively and picking early fights. 5 minutes in, RSG faced a total wipeout when EVOS dived their turret, with JPL’s Akai separating RSG’s players easily.

From then on, it went downhill for RSG. EVOS didn’t even have to try too hard, with RSG making lots of mistakes, essentially handing EVOS the win despite their best efforts.

Game 2 saw RSG taking the lead at first, but EVOS forced a fight and managed to comeback.

(EVOS Esports SG)

The game then proceeded with a series of back-and-forth turnarounds where both sides kept fighting back. Eventually, though, RSG fell behind, and the Marsha draft from Soul proved invaluable to ending the game, as RSG failed to respond well to EVOS splitpushing.

 

Axis Esports 0-2 Todak

Like Goliath versus David, Axis fell to a clean sweep from Todak, who played really well, demonstrating the same skills that have brought them this far despite being a new team.

By the midgame of Game 1, Todak’s lead had grown a lot, and their players Moonnnnn (Gusion), xrayyyyy (X.Borg), and eoneeeee (Hylos) were big contributors. Axis started trying to stall, hoping they could buy time for Lacid (Marsha) to get his items. Unfortunately, that opportunity never came.

(Todak)

The 2nd game went a bit differently. Todak found themselves falling behind due to careless mistakes, allowing Axis to gain the advantage, especially with Loong (Karrie) and Rynn (Harith) dealing a lot of damage to them.

The turning point, though, came when Todak ambushed Axis, securing a wipeout. From then on, the tables turned, with Evilx (Hylos) caught out numerous times. Todak kept the pressure on, finally securing their 2nd win.

 

Geek Fam 2-0 XPAX X-Assins

Meanwhile, in the Lower Bracket, we had yet another clean sweep by Geek Fam, ending XPAX’s run in the Playoffs with this rematch.

Game 1 started really slowly, with both sides playing safe, and XPAX eventually managed to build a slight lead, with more towers taken, along with a Lord (that Geek Fam failed to steal).

Unfortunately, XPAX made mistakes, and Geek Fam was quick to capitalize on it, with Xorn and Feekz leading the charge. They caught out XPAX one by one, closing the gap, and eventually a single winning trade gave Geek Fam the momentum (and a 2nd Lord) to finish the game.

Building on this momentum, Geek Fam showed no mercy in Game 2, securing 6-0 KD by 5 minutes. With their lineup, which didn’t even have a proper frontliner/pure tank, Geek Fam triggered one last teamfight, carried by Dominus on Esmeralda, to knock out XPAX.

(XPAX X-Assins)

 

Notorious Villains 2-1 Shopee Bosskurr

Now this was an epic match. Up until this point, the matches were all sweeps, but the Villains vs Bosskurr match went on for 3 games, ending in Bosskurr’s elimination. It’s a pity, but that’s the nature of a competition for you.

 

Notorious Villains got off to a good start, dominating their first game with an 11-3 Kill-Death ratio and 7k gold lead by 12 minutes. Azura X, their newest player, demonstrated his skills on Terizla, dealing damage and zoning out Bosskurr’s players.

The only hope Bosskurr had was Perisai (Claude), trying to bait Villains into a bad teamfight. Unfortunately for Bosskurr, Logan got baited instead, and they lost.

Bosskurr managed to comeback in Game 2 though, with Soloz able to pick his Gusion and Penjahat backing him up on Chou. The duo proceeded to tear the Villains apart easily, utterly demolishing them.

Fortunately for Notorious Villains, game 3 was their lucky break. Jamesss, drafting Franco, became the easily turned fights around with his hooks, which allowed Villains to repeatedly catch Bosskurr’s players out of position. Combined with solid teamwork, and Fossa’s (Granger) heavy damage, the Villains put an end to Bosskurr’s ambitions.

(Shopee Bosskurr)

 

Geek Fam 1-2 Resurgence

Goodbye, Season 3 champions Geek Fam. You put up a good fight against Resurgence.

The battle started in Game 1, which was mostly even.

Even with the equal trading back and forth though, RSG pulled off a good engage in the lategame that allowed them to take Lord, then crush 3 of Geek Fam’s turrets. From then on, the match was all but lost, as RSG kept the pressure up.

(Resurgence)

But Geek Fam wasn’t about to give up. They fought really hard in Game 2, fighting back even as RSG kept pushing, and managed to secure one good teamfight, catching RSG out to win.

Then, in a game that felt like it was the finals, RSG and Geek Fam clashed for the last time this season. By 10 minutes, RSG had taken 2 towers while Geek Fam failed to destroy any. Despite their efforts, and Xorn’s superb skills on Franco (Mr Vi got caught a lot of times!), it wasn’t enough. One good teamfight by RSG sealed Geek Fam’s fate, as RSG took Lord and pushed to win, even with a final desperate defense by Geek Fam.

(Geek Fam)

 

Axis Esports 2-1 Notorious Villains

The last match of Day 1 saw Axis Esports (having dropped from the Upper Bracket) going up against Notorious Villains, whom they defeated. Better luck next time, Notorious Villains

Their first game was in favour of Axis initially, as they raced ahead due to their good trades, killing the Villains players one by one. Then, during a pivotal fight, Azura X jumped in to save the day and remove Axis’ lead. From then on, the momentum swung towards Villains, and they eventually managed to take 2 Lords, with one secured due to Azura X distracting Villains in a 3v1. The game ended shortly after, despite Axis stalling.

Unfortunately for Notorious Villains, the next game demonstrated the inverse, with Notorious Villains forced into a defensive position due to Loong’s Helcurt. Demonstrating his skills, Loong easily eliminated his opponents, giving his team a huge lead to push and end the game.

Of course, this wasn’t the end. Game 3 saw both teams pulling out all the stops, making crazy plays left and right, like Azura X using Arrival to escape Evilx’s (Grock) wall trap, Evilx escaping Fossa’s (Karrie) last autoattack with 1 bar of HP, and many others.

You have to admit that both teams really tried their best to pull off this final win, with Scott (Diggie) and Lacid (Thamuz) in particular being vital to Axis Esports.

Notorious Villains desperately held on, trying to maintain their formation and hold their base while Axis kept splitpushing and catching them. After a while, they caught up, but Axis had a last trick up their sleeve. In a teamfight at Lord, where they sprung an ambush, Villains was almost wiped out. This gave Axis the opportunity to get Lord and commit to more teamfights, finally knocking down Notorious Villains’ base.

We’ve got more matches lined up for tomorrow, including the championship match, so, do continue to check us out!