Karl “Karltzy” Nepomuceno never really expected to have found a second wind at ECHO after his once soaring career went downward spiral and hit rock bottom.
But he did.
And the MPL Philippines Press Corps’ Player of the Year award which was given to him on Wednesday, March 8, is somehow a reminder of all the hard work and discipline he put in just to return to the pedestal of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang esports scene.
“Sobrang espesyal po sa akin [nito] kasi nung pag-lipat ko po ng ECHO parang feel ko ano e, pababa na yung career ko so yun pala hindi pa, nakakatuwa lang na kaya ko pa ring sumabay,” said Karltzy who became the very first recipient of the award in the inaugural MPL PH Press Corps Awards Night powered by SMART and sponsored by Evident Integrated Marketing and PR and Razer Gold.
Karltzy first took the Mobile Legends scene by storm when he steered Bren Esports to a world title in the M2 World Championship. The success, however, proved to be short-lived as his team stumbled and was shoved into repeated frustrations after a series of lackluster performances in the next few seasons.
It took a change of scenery and even playstyle for Karltzy to regain his form as he transferred to ECHO and veered away from his usual flashy assassin picks to boring but nonetheless effective utility jungler choices.
From then, Karltzy slowly rose to the ranks anew, first leading his team to the M4 World Championship before bagging his second M-series crown – the only player in history to do so.
“Nakakatuwa lang po. Kahit maraming nag-doubt nung una, mas marami naman yung nag-tiwala sa akin so grateful ako sa mga taong yun,” he added.
Among those people are his peers at ECHO who also led the honor roll during the awards night.
Sanford “Sanford” Vinuya bagged the Breakout Player of the Year award, Alston “Sanji” Pabico, the Rookie of the Year and Best Midlaner and Benedict “BennyQT” Gonzales the Best Gold Laner.
ECHO country manager Mitch Liwanag won the Executive of the Year award while ECHO’s backdoor play against Bren Esports was hailed as the Play of the Year.
Outside ECHO, there are also Blacklist International‘s Edward “EDWARD” Dapadap and Jonmar “OhmyV33nus” Villaluna who won Best EXP laner and Comeback Player of the Year respectively while coach Brian “Panda” Lim, Dylan “Light” Catipon and John Paul “H2wo” Salonga of RSG Slate Philippines bagged the Coach of the Year, Best Roamer plum and Sportsmanship Award.
Lastly, Blacklist International and Bren Esports’ nail-biting upper bracket semifinal clash in Season 10 was named Match of the Year.
With all the recognitions and awards however there’s something that Karltzy has also been raring to win at this point of his career – an MPL title for ECHO and an MSC crown for him which could complete his collection of Mobile Legends titles
“Siguro una po gusto kong bigyan muna ng MPL championship yung ECHO tapos MSC naman po para sa akin,” said Karltzy who along with other winners will receive 5,000 MLBB diamonds.