Todak and RED Esports MY advance to the upper bracket semifinals to continue their journey in the MPL Malaysia S14 Playoffs.
Photos courtesy of MPL Malaysia
Todak and 
RED Esports MY successfully advanced to the upper bracket semifinals of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League (MPL) Malaysia Season 14 Playoffs after surviving the Play-Ins on Thursday (October 31). The two-time MPL Malaysia champions played had to overcome 
Monster Vicious (MV) in a five-game thriller while RED Esports MY soundly swept 
JP NINERS.
Arguably a contender for the series of the season so far, Todak and MV just one-upped each other in each game until a winner was decided after five slugfests. Meanwhile, Todak entered their series against JP NINERS on a high note after beating RED in the last week of the regular season; the same couldn’t be said for MV, who won against SRG but lost against JP NINERS.
Todak struck first blood against their opponent after a brilliant showing on Melissa by the legend of Malaysia, Muhammad "CikuGais" Fuad. His Melissa was untouched by the opponent until his sacrifice was deemed necessary to win the game, with Muhammad "Zaed" Hakimi's Nolan following up Momo’s Gatot Kaca opener.
MV made their case to be considered contenders this season after they completely turned the tables against Todak in the second game. They successfully picked Natan and Suyou to secure their mid and late game, with Hylos as their support. In the end, game two was secured by MV in 21 minutes.
Games three and four almost looked like a repeat of the first two games as Todak upped MV in game three while the reverse happened in the next.
The fifth game was an instant classic as Todak secured Suyou while MV got Natan and Alpha. Both sides traded blows and kills to gain an advantage. MV then mustered an astounding defence against their enemy, however, one miscalculation led to the classic Todak backdoor by Cikugais that ultimately won his team the game.
The next series was a meeting between JP Niners, powered by Maxwell "Maxx" Alessandro and Rasya "Rasy" Wisita, against the established RED Esports MY. The audience expected a thrilling showing from both of them. However, what actually happened onstage was far from expectations.
RED Esports MY showed their class early on with the Kaja and Hayabusa combination working perfectly for them. The couple picked off every member of JP NINERS and pressured them to concede the first game to RED Esports MY in just under 13 minutes.
The second and third games didn’t differ for the JP NINERS as they tried everything to mount a comeback. From Irithel to Khaleed support, everything crumbled when Natan was picked for RED Esports MY. In the end, it was a masterclass on drafting that decider the winner of this match.
The MPL Malaysia Season 14 Playoffs will continue with the upper bracket semifinals between Selangor Red Giants and Todak followed by Team Vamos taking on RED Esports MY.
