A new era?
Onic Esports made new history in the Mobile Legends Pro League Indonesia (MPL ID) Season 11 competition which ended last Sunday. They achieved their first back to back victory in MPL ID and also became the first team to win the grand final with the greatest win rate in regular season.
Since the end of MPL ID Season 10 in October 2022, Onic Esports has been able to successfully retain their strong performance. Prior to season 11, they only made one significant change: they hired Adi “Acil” Syofian Asyauri, the former coach of the RRQ squad, to serve as their primary analyst.
Unexpectedly, Onic managed to attain achievements they had never thought possible before, thanks to this “small” adjustment. They won the league with nearly 100 per cent win rate in the MPL ID Season 11. Prior to the MPL ID S11 playoffs, they only lost one game against RRQ in the final week of regular season.
Their winning streak carried over to the MPL ID S11 playoffs, where they sent Evos Legends to the lower bracket and defeated the underdog Alter Ego.
Total annihilation
Onic’s competitor, Evos Legends, made it to the grand finals as one of the “underdogs” in MPL ID S11. This new title wasn’t surprising given that they haven’t won a title or finished as runner up in MPL ID since season 8. In addition, the absence of numerous key players such as Gerald “Dlar” Trinchera and Maxhill “Antimage” Leonardo, as well as the M1’s winner coach, Bjorn ‘Zeys’ Ong, has cast doubt on the team to go further this season.
The blue tiger, who finished seventh in the MPL ID S10, was pretty much inconsistent in MPL ID S11 regular season. Even though they performed well in week 1 and week 2, they were unable to maintain their form and suffered several defeats until week 5. Luck was definitely in their favor, however, thanks to the solid work of their gold laner Jabran “Branz” Bagus Wiloko and several teams that were failed to show up in the final week, which spared them from degradation.
Nonetheless, Evos Legends’ winning mentality has not completely vanished. Surprisingly, they eliminated teams which ,statistically, were above them by reverse sweeps. Geek Slate, Alter Ego, and RRQ were all decisively swept by the Branz – Dreams combo, which showcased excellent map awareness.
The mental strength of Evos Legends players has made them one of the underdogs chosen by several Indonesian and international pundits, such as Mirko and GideonQ. Even so, their so called winning mentality was not enough to destroy the yellow hedgehog army.
Evos Legends came out swinging against Onic, who sent them to lower bracket. While most MPL ID fans were rooting for Onic to emerge as the champions in the best-of-seven series, they expected some fierce competition between these two.
Their expectations ultimately were dashed. Evos were soundly defeated by Onic Esports. Kiboy, Sanzz, and Kairi frequently pressured Evos from the start and never gave them any space to strike back.
The first game was all about Kairi as he stormed through his opponents with one of his favorites, Fanny. Dreams and Branz tried to keep Evos in check, but the Filipino monster proved difficult to take down. In a flash – 12 minutes and 8 seconds – Onic closed the first game with a convincing victory.
Evos came close to equalize in the second game by pressuring Onic in early game. In the first eight minutes, they were able to get eight kills and forced Onic to play cautiously. Nevertheless, Onic were ahead in objectives and managed to fight back in the mid-to-late game and won in less than fourteen minutes.
By the third and fourth game, Evos was clearly cracking under immense pressure. Their winning mentality finally crumbled. Kiboy and Kairi took risks and their efforts were paid off. The third and fourth game took only 28 minutes to complete. Onic won the grand finals and handed Evos the biggest loss in MPL ID grand finals since season 3.
Onic’s landslide victory over Evos in brief time made the MPL ID S11 spectators dub the grand finals as the most boring grand finals in the history of MPL ID. Some even blasphemed Evos as the most underserved team to reach the grand finals.
