Gila Sanz!
The eleventh series of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Pro League Indonesia (MPL ID) has ended with a historic victory for Onic Esports. In addition of achieving their first back to back title, Onic’s players have also taken home a number of notable awards, with Gilang “Sanz” ended up being the player who took home the MVP of the season.
Unlike the previous season, Onic left no room for competition in Season 11. They frequently won by landslide scores since the beginning of regular season, with only a single defeat against RRQ in the second leg of the regular season near the end of March.
Onic’s impressive improvement this season has led many fans to believe the team is buoyed by good performances from two of its star players, Kairi “Kairi” Rayosdelsol and Calvin “CW” Winata. Their consistency and amazing mechanics made these two as the favorites for the MVP of MPL ID S11. But in the end, it was Sanz who achieved his long awaited dream of becoming MPL ID’s MVP.
The unsung hero
His MVP announcement has raised questions among MPL audience, as well as some of Onic ardent supporters. Most believed that, based on statistics and gameplay, Kairi or CW deserved this title more, considering what they did in the first 3 weeks of the MPL ID S11 regular season.
Still, a few things stand out as being mostly ignored by those who merely use K/D/A as a benchmark to assess a player’s performance.
First of all, Sanz clearly was the key part of Onic Esports’ when it comes to rotation. Although his K/D/A was less compared to Kairi and CW, he was crucial on securing objectives and creating spaces for his teammates to focus on high-value targets.
This was evident in multiple games played by Sanz during weeks 5 and 6, where he displayed excellent map rotation. In comparison to the previous season, the number of Onic’s objectives has increased significantly: 60 lords, 63 turtles, and 268 turrets.
In terms of strategy, Sanz definitely has a handful of tactics to deploy, which was reflected in his hero pool. Previously, Sanz had been known for his perfect win streak record with Fanny in the MPL ID S8, despite the fact that she was marginally out of meta at the time.
He once again surprised everyone this season when he toyed around his opponents using Valentina and Pharsa, who are actually more suited for gold lane. This made Sanz as one of the most difficult damage dealers to handle, due to his unpredictability. This aspect was highlighted during the clean sweep against Evos Legends and Alter Ego in playoff rounds.
Last but not least, it appears that many have forgotten that the former Victim Esports player had to switch role three times before putting up his best gameplay in MPL ID so far.
Prior to this season, Sanz has primarily played as a gold laner and a jungler before he settled as Onic’s regular mid laner. While role switching is undoubtedly not an easy feat to achieve, Sanz has demonstrated over the past two seasons that he helped Onic with his versatility. It should be noted that he has changed positions more than Kairi and CW combined.
With the Asian Games Cambodia and MSC 2023 competitions waiting for Onic Esports in the coming months, it is safe to say that Sanz will be one of the rising stars that the Indonesian national team and Onic Esports will rely on, which are aiming for their first international titles.
