ECHO Coach Explains Why Yawi Skipped Opener Against RRQ Hoshi in M4 Group Stage

The head coach of ECHO Harold "Tictac" Reyes revealed the reason for the absence of the team’s iconic roamer Tristan "YAWI" Cabrea in its opening match against RRQ Hoshi in the M4 World Championship group stage. According to the coach, it was a team decision to draft Jaypee "Jaypee" Cruz instead of the fan-favorite roamer. Coach Tictac also clarified that the sudden player swap was not because of the recent issue between Yawi and The Valley’s Gold Laner Peter "Basic" Lozano. The issue arose when a series of screenshots went viral on social media as they revealed Yawi’s flirtatious advances towards Basic’s girlfriend .

Why Yawi missed the match against RRQ Hoshi?

When the match between ECHO and RRQ Hoshi started and the roster was revealed, fans and casters were left questioning why Yawi was not playing in its opening match of the tournament. Despite this, Jaypee proved to the fans that he is worthy of filling the shoes of ECHO’s star roamer as he spearheaded the squad into securing its first win in the group stage.

Through a post-match press conference, ECHO’s head coach Tictac explained why Yawi was absent in one of its crucial matches in the M4 World Championship.

“As for Yawi, it was a team decision,” said the coach.

Coincidently, Yawi was also met with controversy following a series of screenshots that went viral, alleging that the pro player was cheating with his girlfriend on social media. However, Tictac clarified that the issue was not the main reason for Yawi’s absence in the match against RRQ Hoshi.

“There was no problem. There was an issue that happened, right? But no, we set that aside because all of his teammates were focused on M4,” said the head coach.

Basic shared screenshots of Yawi’s alleged flirtation

Back on 1st January 2023, Basic posted a series of screenshots revealing Yawi flirting with Caro, who happens to be Basic’s girlfriend. The post went viral with some netizens criticizing and making fun of Yawi’s grammatical errors.

Some fans claim that this may be the reason why Yawi did not play in ECHO's opening match in the M4 World Championship. However, Coach Tictac explained that the issue did not affect the squad and it was a team decision to let Jaypee play instead of Yawi.

ECHO shall continue to compete for an upper bracket slot as it faces Occupy Thrones and RSG Singapore on 4th January 2023.