LPU-M Pirates robs Viridis Arcus of a 2nd championship title in Alliance Games MLBB
The pirates of LPU-M have done it, they plundered the greatest treasure of all: the championship.
Lyceum Pirates Esports (LPE) of Lyceum of the Philippines – Manila (LPU-M) – have gotten away with committing a heist on De La Salle University’s (DLSU) Viridis Arcus chance of a repeat championship after besting them in a 2-1 series in the grand final of the AcadArena Alliance Games Mobile Legends Bang Bang Season 3 held on Sunday, June 4.
Via the Alliance Games official Facebook page
The showdown between the reigning kings of Viridis Arcus and the spirited challengers of Lyceum Pirates Esports—both of whom were dominant throughout the regular season—was well worth the wait, culminating in an epic battle that saw an upset and borderline daylight robbery that the audience had no problems being witnesses to. No LaSallian booty was left untouched by the hands of the Pirates.
Game 1 of the showdown began in favor of the challengers from LPE, getting a lead over the previous champions in a dominant fashion; with an all-in type comp that dismantled the Viridis Arcus’ more conventional front-to-back with aggressive rotations thus setting the match’s tempo and wringing control out of the DLSU representatives grasp.
However, not backing down without a fight, Game 2 of the series saw an opposite outcome with Viridis Arcus banning the Xavier from LPE’s midlaner Paul “Kou” Huang which led to the Pirates readjusting their comp with a Gord pick. This proved to be a mistake as, after an unfortunate fight, the Pirates’ momentum was stopped and Viridis Arcus promptly took over the game, taking the series to a tie for a Game 3.
The final round lived up to the hype as the final matchup. The early game went to the side of Viridus Arcus, holding a significant lead of around 10k gold in the quarter over the Pirates. DLSU’s Joshua Nathaniel “Aspect” Tating was a force to be reckoned with his Hayabusa, who became a terror to the likes of LPE’s midlaner Kou and gold laner Elijah Em Jay “SUPER XILE” Cabradilla; yet through the game-changing plays from the likes of both Ralph “Alas” Araz and Kou, LPU-M shut down DLSU’s fed carries and managed to wrangle a Lord and get some map control. The final nail in the coffin for DLSU was when the four of their members, except Aspect, were wiped out in a river team fight thus making history in winning the series and the Alliance Games Split Championship title.
This final meant a lot for the pride of LPE as having lost previously to DLSU. In an interview with the Lyceum Pirates gold laner SUPER XILE stated. “Nung sa regular season namin, natalo kami ng DLSU, tapos ginusto namin bumawi. (We lost to DLSU in the regular season and since then we’ve been meaning to even the score.)”
Despite that loss, the Pirates never considered it a skill gap between them and Viridus Arcus. Cabradilla added, “Kaya naman po namin talaga kahit sa regular season po kaso nagsithrow po kami, kanya-kanyang throw (We knew we could always take them [DLSU] even in the regular season, we just threw the games.) ”
For the Pirates, their desire for a rematch was more of an inevitability. “Pero ineexpect namin kalabanin Virdi talaga, kaya nung nakita namin DLSU sabi namin kaya na natin to, champion na kami dito ( We always saw ourselves having a rematch with VA and when we saw who we were up against we said to ourselves, we got this; we got the championship in the bag.)”
Via the Lyceum Pirates Esports official Facebook page
The victory also served as a big boost of confidence and validation for the team as it wasn’t just talent that the Lyceum Pirates put out, swagger came off in waves from these scrappy kids. As seen in their post-game statements, not only were they talented but they knew it and wanted everyone else to know it too, having both bark and bite in and out of the competition. They were turning heads since the regular season and playoffs stage whether people liked it or not.
When asked what they have in store for the next split, “Consistency, yun lang.” Whether this means a repeat championship or stagnancy remains yet to be seen for the next season.
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