After sweeping TNC Pro Team in the first half of MPL Philippines Season 11, Bren Esports is back and now at the top of the leaderboard with a 9-series win streak and 24 points in their belt. While TNC’s placement in the regular season was not up to par, they have managed to build their chemistry this time. Can TNC Pro Team beat the insurmountable odds stacked against them and make a comeback to qualify for the playoffs?

The draft phase was a surprise as Wanwan was not banned in the first game and both team did not even prioritize picking it despite having a 99%-ban rate and a 100%-win rate. TNC first picked a Pharsa while Bren answered with Yuzhong and Yve. Finally, TNC went for a Wanwan and a Tankcelot for jungler while Kyletzy gets one of his signature pick, Hayabusa. TNC finalize their draft with Terizla and a Khufra while Bren went for Beatrix and Yve.

Right off the bat, TNC Pro Team seemed to have the plan to play against Bren Esports. They focused on Bren’s gold laner, Super Marco, not letting him farm freely in the early stage of the game. With this kind of strategy, TNC was able to snowball as they had secured all of the objectives and outer turrets of Bren. In just under 14 minutes TNC had a 10-thousand gold lead however while they were sieging, a great Wild Charge play from Owgwen allowed Bren to initiate and win a team fight for the first time, 3-1.By the time the third lord spawned, Bren has recovered the map control of TNC but despite that, K1NGKONG still secured the Lord that signaled Bren to back off to defend against the upcoming Lord siege. TNC destroyed the remaining inhibitor of Bren before killing KyleTzy and Innocent’s Wanwan locking into the base of Bren. Ending the game just 4 seconds shy of 18 minutes, a huge upset came from the side of TNC.

The draft of game number was very unusual as many heroes were previously banned in many series that were opened, a Wanwan, an Arlott, and a Joy. A first pick Arlott for the side of Bren while TNC went for high-mobility heroes such as Wanwan and Joy. Bren then proceeded to pick a Lolita to counter Wanwan and a Melissa while TNC went for a Khufra once more. A surprising Kagura pick for the side TNC while Bren picked a Phoveus mid lane to again counter the high mobility hero of TNC and a Helcurt for burst. TNC finalized their draft with a Thamuz jungler.

TNC was not able to replicate their early gameplay like game number 1, this allowed Super Marco to scale safely unlike the previous game. Although TNC had the kill advantage in the early game, Bren was able to snowball through the objectives they had secured. 14 minutes into the game, Bren secured the second lord that allowed them to destroy TNC’s mid and top turrets. But despite killing the lord, Bren was able to wipe TNC at the cost of Super Marco. Bren took game number 2 and was able to extend the series to game number 3.

Different to game 1 and 2, Bren went to ban Lancelot, Wanwan and Gloo while TNC banned Kaja, Arlott and Valentina once again. This means that Fanny was open and TNC went to secure and deny it from Kyletzy. Bren went to steal Khufra to also counter K1NGKONG’s Fanny and a flex pick Joy. TNC then secured their roam and gold duo, Beatrix and Franco while Bren focused once again to counter Fanny by picking an anti-assassin gold, Brody. A Paquito was secured by Bren in the second picking phase while TNC locked in the fast clearing Lylia and a sustain heavy exp laner, Terizla. Bren finalized their draft with a Grock that went to Exp lane, making the Joy a mid laner.

The early game clearly went to the side of Bren as they had many pick offs around the map. Bren was able to make a snowball with their early lead that ballooned into a 10 thousand gold by 15 minutes in the game. By 16 minutes into the game, TNC was able to defend the Lord siege from Bren in addition to their pick off onto Super Marco. This allowed TNC to secure a Lord of their own and regain the map control. By 21 minutes, there were several hooks that landed on the members of Bren allowed TNC to play 5v4. While Super Marco was backdooring K1NGKONG was able to defend while Benthings hold the Lord for K1NGKONG to take. As TNC siege Bren Benthing once again landed a hook onto Owgwen. Although Owgwen was able to survive the initial burst with immortality, TNC miraculously wiped out Bren at the cost of Benthings. With this, TNC ended the 9-winning streak of Bren Esports.

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Game 2:

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Game 3:

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