M2 World Championship Day 4 recap: Burmese Ghouls upset Bren Esports
The first day of the playoffs at the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) M2 World Championship has concluded, with two more teams getting eliminated while two others inch closer towards the trophy.
Japanese team 10S Gaming Frost and Singaporean squad EVOS SG were sent packing by Alter Ego and Todak in the Lower Bracket. In the Upper Bracket, Burmese Ghouls pulled off a huge upset over Bren Esports while RRQ Hoshi defeated Omega Esports in a thriller of a series.
Read on for a recap of all the action in day four of M2:
Match 1: Alter Ego 2-0 10S Gaming Frost
The first day of the playoffs opened with Alter Ego putting an end to what looked like a potential Cinderella run by Japanese squad 10S Gaming Frost in a dominant 2-0 sweep.
Both teams started the series by brawling throughout the early game, with Alter Ego pulling ahead just before the 8-minute mark with a 10-7 kill lead. A huge fight for control of Lord ended with Alter Ego on top, which they then used to snowball to a 13-minute victory with the kill score at 20-10.
Alter Ego didn’t waste time in game two, taking full control of the game by 8 minutes with a 10-5 kill advantage. Despite 10S Gaming’s best efforts to stall things out, Alter Ego secured the series sweep by the 15-minute mark to advance to the next round.
Match 2: Todak 2-0 EVOS SG
The second Lower Bracket match of the day saw MPL MY/SG champions Todak eliminate regional rivals EVOS SG in a dominant 2-0 sweep.
Game one started with both teams on relatively even footing at five kills apiece by the 8-minute mark. However, Todak dominated the ensuing team fights to take control by 11 minutes and take the first game of the series just two minutes later with a 17-8 kill advantage.
Todak smelled blood in the water in game two, cruising to a 10-4 kill lead after 8 minutes. EVOS SG still showed signs of life, however, as they scored a team wipe at 11 minutes and defended against a huge base push at 14 minutes. But that wasn’t enough to stop Todak from grinding out the win by the 16-minute mark and eliminate the last Singaporean team from M2.
Match 3: Burmese Ghouls 2-0 Bren Esports
In one of the most surprising results of the tournament thus far, Burmese Ghouls pulled off a 2-0 upset over Bren Esports, the MPL PH champions and one of biggest favourites to take the championship at M2.
Burmese Ghouls came out swinging to start the series and dominated the early game, leading in kills 10-3 by the 7-minute mark. Bren Esports looked listless as their base was demolished by the 12-minute mark, with Burmese Ghouls holding a very lopsided 22-5 kill advantage.
Riding high from their game one victory, Burmese Ghouls pulled out a surprise Diggie pick to close out Bren Esports.
While the early game started out slow with both teams at three kills apiece after 6 minutes, the Burmese Ghouls were able to pull ahead and break into their opponents’ base with a 8-5 kill lead after 11 minutes.
Despite a valiant defence from Bren Esports, the Burmese Ghouls eventually secured the series sweep after 16 minutes to complete the upset and advance to the Upper Bracket Finals.
Match 4: RRQ Hoshi 2-0 Omega Esports
M1 finalists RRQ Hoshi were on a warpath to the finals at M2 as they took down Omega Esports in a crazy 2-0 series that featured a game that went over the 30-minute mark.
The first game of this series will definitely go down as one of the best in the history of Mobile Legends esports.
Omega Esports emerged out of a close early game on top, and looked to be in the process of securing the first Lord of the game for a push. However, RRQ was somehow able to steal that Lord and win consecutive skirmishes to equalise by 16 minutes, before taking the gold lead by 20 minutes. The game was still far from over, though.
Luminous Lord was the next point of contention, with Omega Esports winning a huge fight to gain control of it and go for what could have been a game-winning push at the 24-minute mark.
RRQ was somehow able to breakeven in that defence, further stalling the game out. A seven-minute standoff for control of the third Lord then ensued, where RRQ’s stronger scaling lineup prevailed in this ultra late-game situation.
After dominating crucial clashes and securing the third Lord, RRQ finally ended this 31-minute marathon with the victory despite the kill score ending up tied at 26 apiece.
While game one was definitely a thriller, game two was anticlimactic in comparison as RRQ Hoshi dominated Omega Esports to secure the 2-0 sweep.
After stunning Omega Esports in the early game by going up 7-3 in kills before the 4-minute mark, RRQ Hoshi cruised to a 10-minute victory with a 16-4 kill lead to secure their spot in the Upper Bracket Finals against the Burmese Ghouls.
What’s to come
With the first day of the playoffs now over, M2 is inching closer towards crowning the new MLBB world champions. Day two of the main event on Saturday (23 January) will start with the next round of Lower Bracket matches, opening with a match between Alter Ego and Omega Esports then followed by Bren Esports going up against Todak.
The marquee matchup of the day will be the best-of-five Upper Bracket Final, where Burmese Ghouls will face off against RRQ Hoshi.
The winner of this hype matchup will secure the first spot in the best-of-seven Grand Finals, while the loser will drop to the best-of-five Lower Bracket Finals.
Finally, the day will close with the Lower Bracket Semifinal, where the winners of the two prior Lower Bracket matches will take each other on to see who will advance to the Lower Bracket Finals on Sunday (24 January).
To find out all that happened in the group stage, check out our recaps for day one, day two, and day three of the M2 World Championship.
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