M5: AP.Bren eliminates Team Lilgun, tops Group B spotless

QUEZON CITY, Philippines – AP.Bren somehow played as a villain in their last group assignment after eliminating Team Lilgun of Mongolia and kept the Philippines' M5 dream alive at the EVM Convention Center here on Thursday, December 7.

Bren's 2-0 sweep of the Mongolian squad eliminated them from knockout round contention for a perfect 3-0 win-loss slate in the fifth iteration of the M-series.

Lilgun fell to an identical 1-2 mark as Singapore's Team Flash and Myanmar's Burmese Ghouls, but BG clinched the last slot in the KO stage with their better game record.

By topping Group C, the Hive set a date with Group A second place See You Soon in the upper bracket (UB) on Saturday, December 9, in the same venue. The reigning Mobile Legends Professional League (MPL) Cambodia champion had a Filipino reinforcement in jungler Michael Medrocillo "MP the King" Endino.

Burmese Ghouls, on the other hand, takes on Geek Fam ID with Filipino imports Mark Christian "Markyyyyy" Capacio and Allen "Baloyskie" Baloy.

The opening showdown saw the defending MPL Philippines titleholder dominating the Wild Card winner in every aspect of the game.

Experience (EXP) laner David "Flaptzy" Canon's Paquito led the way for Bren in Game One with a flawless 8/0/2 KDA for the Most Valuable Player (MVP) plum.

Marco "Super Marco" Requitano in Wanwan added six kills and five assists on top of a single death, while Michael "KyleTzy" Sayson's Baxia provided two kills and nine assists while falling once.

Team captain Angelo "Pheww" Arcangel dished 13 assists and a kill while getting killed once as Rowgien "Owgwen" Unigo's Minotaur made for his one death with 11 assists.

In Game Two, Lilgun took a 5,000 net worth, but a double kill by Super Marco's Claude in the 17th-minute lord fight fueled Bren's comeback to finish off the all-Mongolian crew from that point.

Super Marco got the MVP nod on two kills and two assists.

In APBR tactician Francis "Ducky" Glindro's observation, Lilgun had the potential but must widen their hero pool, especially on the big stage like the World Championship.

"Medyo paulit-ulit yung draft nila. There's no surprises at least," Ducky explained.

"But the boys said that Lilgun is pretty creative. They're just hindered by the fact that you're going to play with the best of the best in the world. I think they went a little bit stiff in terms of creating their own identity in this particular tournament," he furthered.