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The Philippines (PH) team, ECHO, revealed that they had specifically prepared an Aldous pick for the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Invitational (MPLI) 2021 group stage. The team won against its former sister-team AURA Fire after an intricate and intense fight that resulted in a 2-1 match score, in favor of ECHO. The highlight of the match was during the third game, where a surprising Aldous pick from ECHO’s Jaymark "Hadess" Lazaro managed to turn the tide in the late game to end the series with an MVP title. The post-match interview revealed that the team prepared the team comp specifically for the MPLI 2021.
Hadess spearheaded ECHO and dominated the match against AURA Fire in the MPLI 2021
ECHO hyped up the first day of the group stage with a fist-clenching 2-1 victory. Its opponent, AURA Fire, showcased tremendous dedication and willpower with Usep "FACEHUGGER" Satiawan and Jehuda Jordan "HIGH" Sumual leading the charge in team fights. The team traded blows vigorously leading to a third and final deciding match.
The third match was nothing short of amazing outplays from both teams. AURA Fire’s FACEHUGGER initiated team fights for his side with his Yve. ECHO’s Hadess did not do so well during the early match and was the primary target of AURA Fire due to him picking Aldous. Hadess did not do well in overall stats but his presence put AURA Fire on edge due to how high Aldous scales during the late game.
Unfortunately, AURA Fire couldn’t finish the game early which gave Hadess more than enough time to hit his power spike and start dealing tons of damage during team fights. At the 22-minute mark, ECHO started winning skirmishes thanks to the overwhelming power of Hadess’ Aldous along with the supportive capabilities of Christian "Rafflesia" Fajura’s Mathilda. The team eventually stole a Lord which spawns in the bottom lane. ECHO did not hesitate and finished the series at the 26-minute mark.
Through a post-match interview, Rion "RK3" Kudo and Rafflesia revealed that the Aldous pick is not one of the team’s top picks but rather a surprise tactic.
“We only practiced the Aldous pick for the MPLI,” RK3 and Rafflesia echoed.
Despite all the tough contenders in the MPLI 2021, ECHO has its sights set on facing Blacklist International in the grand finals.
“(The team I want to beat) for me, I think it’s Blacklist,” stated Rafflesia.
ECHO’s victory over AURA Fire is quite interesting considering that the Philippines team was formerly called AURA PH before rebranding to ECHO for the MPL PH Season 8. With AURA Fire out of the tournament, ECHO continues its journey in the MPLI 2021.
It will be interesting to see if ECHO keeps its momentum going and maybe meets Blacklist International in the grand finals of the MPLI 2021.
