Day 3 of the M3 World Championships playoffs was upon us, and with that, the lower bracket elimination series.
headline photo courtesy of MLBB Esports
There have been some massive upsets at M3 already, as we witnessed Blacklist International losing to BloodThirstyKings on the first day of playoffs – but the group stage also saw two of the tournament favourites dropping down into the lower bracket, with Onic Esports and Team SMG struggling to find their footing. Today, these two giants of Indonesia and Malaysia would be fighting for their tournament lives in the first best-of-three elimination series of the playoffs.
As we went into the series, it seemed as though Onic were just miles ahead of the SMG squad, claiming the advantage across the map in the early game. While SMG had a few moments where they were able to make a comeback, it was nowhere near enough to come back against the MPL ID Champions, dropping the first game.
With their tournament dreams now hanging in the balance, SMG would be looking to a different draft in hopes of making a comeback. SMG seemed to be a little more comfortable in the early game of game two, with Loong taking over the in the jungle, and the team controlling the tempo of the game too. However, it took one mistake from SMG for Onic to completely capitalise, realising that their opponents had over-extended at Lord. Once they had the advantage, Onic were relentless, never allowing SMG a way back into the game, taking a solid victory.
Unfortunately for Team SMG, being unable to find a victory in the lower bracket would mean that they are the first team eliminated from the M3 World Championships. On the other side of things, Onic Esports manage to hold on for the time being, but with Blacklist International as their next opponents tomorrow, anything can happen.
