The Land of Dawn witnessed some the thrilling, nail-biting, and nerve-wracking moments and games last season but only a few managed to leave a lasting mark on the MPL Philippines community.
Browsing through the highlights, the best plays, and the most iconic duels in Seasons 9 and 10, the MPL Philippines Press Corps along with SMART picked the most noteworthy play and game that surely displayed the competitive spirit of the teams and the undeniable players’ wit and mastery of the game.
For the SMART Play of the Year, ECHO’s backdoor play against Bren Esports in Week 6 Day 1 in Season 10 topped the bill as the eventual M4 World Champions bared superb shot-calling and trust among its members to complete the biggest heist of the season.
With Bren focused on taking down the Lord, the trio of Benedict “BennyQT” Gonzales on Beatrix, Karl “Karltzy” Nepomuceno on the Fanny, and Tristan “Yawi” Cabrera on the Chou sneaked behind and went for the base push while Sanford “Sanford” Vinuya on the Uranus and Alston “Sanji” Pabico bought some time for ECHO to seal the deal.
Such thrilling finishes certainly put the fans on the edge of their seats just like the SMART Match of the Year which was won by the showdown between the M2 and M3 World Champions Blacklist International and Bren Esports in the upper bracket finals of the MPL PH Season 10 playoffs.
Facing a hungry and gritty Bren which took the series lead after a tightly contested Game 3, Blacklist once again banked on its experience and signature poise to take the last two victories and set up a dance with ECHO for one of the M4 World Championship tickets.
Johnmar “OhmyV33nus” Villaluna and Salic “Hadji” Imam utilized an Estes-Faramis combo in Game 4 to push the series to a deciding Game 5 where the MPL PH Season 10 eventual champions had to survive a gallant stand from Bren which for the most part of the series rode on the splendid play from Rowgien “Owgwen” Unigo as well as damage dealers in Michael “Kyletzy” Sayson and Stephen “Super Marco” Requitano.