Banking on its tanky sidelaners, Bren Esports took down Smart Omega, 2-1, in last season’s finals rematch and more importantly clinched the remaining Playoffs upper bracket berth in the MPL Philippines Season 7 on Sunday night, May 16.

CJ “Ribo” Ribo’s Uranus and David “FlapTzy” Canon’s Barats stood strong at the frontlines in crucial team fights to absorb the incoming damage from Omega and allow Karl “KarlTzy” Nepomuceno’s Claude to dish out the damage in the all-important Game 3.

Veteran pro Ribo tanked over 165K damage but only died once and even scored five kills to go with five assists while FlapTzy also went down only once and chipped in 12 assists on top of two kills.

Game 3 stats

With the gutsy victory, Bren seized the No. 2 spot in Group A which guaranteed a seat in the upper bracket after closing out the Regular Season with 23 points on an 8-5 slate and a superior head-to-head advantage over Work Auster Force.

The reigning world and MPL-PH kings will square off against Group B’s top seed and league-best Blacklist International in the first round of the Playoffs.

Bren beat Blacklist, 2-1, in their lone Regular Season encounter but captain-support Angelo “Pheww” Arcangel remains wary against the Jonmar “OhMyV33nus” Villaluna-led squad especially with the long break before the Playoffs.

“‘Di namin makikita ‘yung ipre-prepare nila. Baka mamaya magpalit sila ng strategy (We won’t be able to see their preparation. They might change their strategy),” said Pheww in the post-match interview.

Despite the series defeat, Omega secured the last upper bracket ticket in Group B by prevailing in Game 1 behind Salic “Hadjizy” Imam’s signature Ling.

Omega wound up at No. 2 in its group with 21 points on a 6-7 record to arrange a Playoffs faceoff against Group A’s top seed Aura PH.

The MPL-PH Season 7 Playoffs will start on May 29, with Work (Group A third seed) taking on Nexplay Esports (Group B fourth seed) and Execration (Group B third seed) tangling with Onic PH (Group A fourth seed) in the lower bracket.

Regular Season Final Standings