For a team who seats on top of the standings, this match might seem like just an easy match for ECHO but the story's nature changed as the challengers were introduced. They're up against Smart Omega, renowned to be the 'lason' of MPL and we all know this will not be an ordinary battle. Who will win the war?

It seemed like OMG's plan is to outspeed the ECHO express. The game 1 draft turned out to imply what both of these teams' gameplan: to move around the map as fast as possible. ECHO drafted Kadita as a flex pick for Yawi and Sanji. Raizen secured his Fanny with Mikko stealing Yawi's Chou. The draft ended with Sanji's Gusion and Renzio's Gloo for the side of OMG.

A series of fast-paced ganks happened through the early stages of the game. Starting off with Raizen's first blood against Sanji, rotations revolved around where the turtle respawns. Trade after trade happened but ECHO managed to secure the 1st and 2nd turtle against OMG due to Kartltzy's objective guarantee with his Akai while maintaining low casualties on their side. Through the nature of their line-ups, pick-offs are way more evident than massive 5v5 team fights.

A lot of these happened, but during the 11-minute mark, OMG started to pop off with a 3-0 trade-off of ECHO. For 2 minutes more or less, ECHO and OMG had been dancing for the Lord to take but Stowm with his Pharsa's Feathered Air Strike was able to steal the lord off of Karltzy and Raizen. ECHO's outer turrets have been destroyed because of this, thus making OMG breakthrough from the economic equilibrium. Another lord dance happened but this time, Yawi was able to find Stowm, thus making it possible for ECHO to finally secure Lord no. 3.

ECHO went for a base siege, but OMG successfully defended, extending the game once again. Raizen pulled off a cable to play to assassinate Sanji while surviving not to pop his Immortality. There came a point in time when Raizen was fully baited by Yawi to where Bennyqt positioned himself. Again, ECHO secured Lord No. 4 but Kelra secured an inhibitor turret in return. Once again, ECHO came back to siege OMG's base but OMG refused to give in. They secured a wipeout against ECHO to pull off a direct push but because of Karltzy, they weren't able to do so. Sanji, Sanford, Yawi, and Bennyqt respawned to potentially end the game and they were successful in doing so with Kelra being the first casualty in that clash. ECHO secured Game 1.

Switching sides, OMG went to respect ban Karltzy's Fredrinn and Sanford's Yu Zhong while still deny-picking Yawi's Chou for their first pick. Meanwhile, for ECHO, mutual respect for Raizen's Fanny is shown. Yawi went for a Kaja giving the Kadita to Sanji as well. Kelra won't be able to pick his Harith and Claude as ECHO targeted him during the 2nd phase. The draft ended up with OMG picking their Tank-celot but for ECHO, it's Karltzy's Julian.

Just when we thought the early game will be an early bloodshed, surprisingly, it turned out to be highly reactive plays from both parties, but OMG seemed to grab a hold of the lead by maximizing their advantages within the lanes. Mikko has been showing picture-perfect Way of the Dragons to secure pick-offs against ECHO.

OMG continued relying much on their pick-off potential. They managed to balloon the lead up to 7k more or less at the 10-minute mark. ECHO has been finding it hard to regain composure through Yawi's Divine Judgment. Kelra out of nowhere found Karltzy lingering around the bushes in his area. With a snipe, he was able to take a 40%-HP Karltzy down to help secure the Lord for OMG.

It's OMG's shot to end the game but ECHO pulled off a great defense with Karltzy being able to take down Kelra with an Enhanced Sword combination. ECHO regained control of their jungle area up to the next Lord dance; which turned out to be not a dance at all. Through proper zoning, OMG got the lord uncontestedly but still, it wasn't enough to end the game.

A crucial play then happened. ECHO called for a Conceal to burst down Renzio. A lot of resources were used up but still, they weren't able to take him down. ECHO decided to give the Lord again for OMG but this time, they were able to successfully destroy and extend the series into Game 3. OMG ties 1-1.

For Game 3, ECHO went to the blue side with the first-pick advantage. OMG still didn't want to give the Chou to Yawi but because of this, Karltzy was able to get his Fredrinn. OMG ended up with Raizen securing a Martis to contest for the neutral objectives against the Fredrinn.

As the game started, ECHO took control of the pre-turtle positioning and spatial awareness. It helped them remove the ability of the Martis to go toe to toe against the Fredrinn during the turtle fights. With this, Karltzy became very confident lingering around OMG's jungle area providing space for the rest of the Orcas. OMG was forced every single time to try and commit resources to possibly take down Karltzy, leaving them resource-less during the objective contestation, may it be neutrals or turrets.

ECHO continued putting pressure onto OMG's lanes leaving them preoccupied to keep on defending the minion waves. A time came when Yawi was in an uncomfortable spot where OMG found him, getting the advantage in numbers for the Lord dance. Knowing this, Bennyqt changed target circling around the back lanes of OMG. Raizen got the Lord but ECHO returned a favor through a wipe-out fashion. Shots are fired and ECHO pushed through to finally close the series against Barangay.

GAME 1 DRAFT / POST-GAME STATS / MVP

GAME 2 DRAFT / POST-GAME STATS / MVP

GAME 3 DRAFT / POST-GAME STATS / MVP