Echo Philippines goes into this match hoping to maintain their momentum as they’ve successfully bounced back from their first series loss, but that “bounce back” is something yet to happen for Smart Omega in this season. One thing to take note of especially coming from the recent games of Echo is Rafflesia's performance on the Chou, the only hero he’s used so far this season 8. Rafflesia was able to get his hands on this Chou for the first game of this series, and he showed us a performance on point once more with his zoning capacities and setups which enabled the members of Echo particularly Bennyqt on the Alice, to take the perfect positioning and timing to fight against the members of OMG. Just the same, OMG knew their winning conditions, and had some flashy plays coming in from Ch4knu on that Khufra as well, but as much as they kept these winning conditions in mind and as much as they took care of Hito on that Natan in the gold lane for instance, the information provided by Rafflesia intruding the enemy territory for almost the whole of the game was just enough for Echo to know their next targets and their plans for their rotation, giving them the upper hand and allowing them to take game number 1.

The second game of the series was filled with a variety of complex heroes to pull off, and it was a showcase of the capabilities of a Marksman midlaner. Additionally, Rafflesia got his hands on the Chou once again, and we all know the impact of this hero to the overall gameplay of Echo. Apart from that, Rk3 got his hands on the Beatrix as well which has definitely proved itself to work in their favor apart from Rk3’s mastery of this hero himself. Ch4knu obviously found it quite difficult to pull off clean setups during this game on the Akai as the heroes of Echo were quite high on mobility, and as much as Kielvj is skilled on the Roger, there was not much he could actually chase after nor clean up, as the punish potential of Echo is something they should watch out for as well. The game went on until 12 minutes without OMG taking any kills against Echo, which turned out to become a crucial situation for them especially as Bennyqt on the Alice was able to scale early into the game and was constantly getting his hands on the purple buff due to the amount of space they had, making it all the more difficult for the members of OMG. The gold gap grew too quickly, not allowing OMG’s E2Max on the Natan and Hito on the Lunox to reach their full potential against Echo. The game lasted too long which made it a lot more difficult for even Echo to put an end to the game, and just when OMG gathered enough confidence and items to go out of their base and contest the second Lord--it was the exact moment Echo got the opportunity to take them out. Thus, securing the series with a 2-0 sweep.

OMG is definitely yet to bounce back from their loss, but Echo has been showing us that they’re definitely turning out to become a team to look out for--could this be the return of the their winning ways?

GAME 1:

Duration: 13:09

Score: 9-13 in favor of Echo

Match MVP: Rafflesia

GAME 2:

Duration: 21:07

Score: 20-7 in favor of Echo

Match MVP: KurtTzy