MPL Philippines Season 15 champions Team Liquid will have to go through multiple hurdles to successfully defend their crown in the Season 16 playoffs.
Team Liquid is facing a tall task as they try to defend their title at the MPL Philippines with the Season 16 playoffs set to begin later this month on October 22 at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay.
TLPH were unceremoniously dumped out of the Upper Bracket spot by ONIC Philippines in the last day of the regular season, and they will now have to go through the play-ins to hopefully keep their bid going.
But standing in their way is an equally capable Team Falcons who are raring to pull off an upset as the lowest seed in the playoffs.
TLPH split their assignments against Team Falcons with their October 11 defeat, 1-2, opening the door for ONIC to deny them the outright Upper Bracket spot in the last week of regular season play at the Green Sun Hotel.
Though Team Falcons holding the momentum at this point, both matches between the teams were stretched to three games.
Now with higher stakes, the defending champions, and a motivated Falcons side, will be eager to meet.
The winner will be facing off against M6 champions ONIC Philippines in the Upper Bracket semifinals.
Twisted Minds eye deep run
Over on the other side of the play-in bracket, Twisted Minds will hope for a better result in the playoffs after getting the boot early on.
They face a TNC Pro Team with a lot to prove.
With only a third place finish in MPL Philippines Season 9 to show for in terms of podium finishes in the league, TNC will be eyeing to restore some sort of order to prove that they are a legitimate threat in the MPL.
Similar to TLPH and Falcons, the teams split their two meetings in the regular season — most recently, Twisted Minds won over TNC, 2-1, on October 11.
Records will be out the window in the play-in though, as they hope to move on and set up a matchup with red-hot Aurora Gaming in the Upper Bracket semifinals. Both the play-ins and the Upper Bracket semis will be vied in a best-of-five format.
The Upper Bracket Final will also be played in a best-of-five format while the Lower Bracket Final and the Grand Final will be played in a best-of-seven series.
MPL Philippines Season 16 — which will also decide the country’s representatives for the M7 Championship — will conclude with the grand final on Sunday, October 26.
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Luisa Morales is a sports writer with a special interest in promoting women’s sports.
Her coverage highlights include the UAAP, PVL, Southeast Asian Games, and the FIBA World Cup. She also follows Alex Eala, the Philippine women’s national football team, and mixed martial arts.