Just a few days to catch his breath, then it’s back to work for the Golden GOAT.
From winning the Snapdragon Mobile Masters to SIBOL qualifiers, champions rarely have the time to slow down, but that’s just the way ONIC PH’s Kelra likes it. Grant “Kelra” Pillas and team have been going hard the past three weeks, with the Holy Week break being the only time they could kick back and relax.
“Pagbalik namin Pinas, diretso kami practice,” said ONIC PH’s Kelra. “Nagbakasyon kami – well hindi talagang bakasyon, pero three days lang. Parang pang reset lang, sama-sama pamilya, ganun.”
When asked what he and the team did with their free time, Kelra just said that they kept it simple. “Rest- mode lang. Yun yung talagang gusto namin. Ayaw namin masyadong mag-outing. Parang mas-gusto lang namin mag-mall.”
Even so, three days is really short compared to the two weeks most of the other MPL teams got. We’ve seen this nonstop schedule burn teams out before, but he believes that this has only helped keep them sharp.
“Nakatulong talaga sa amin kasi dagdaga yun sa confidence namin,” said ONIC PH’s Kelra regarding their Snapdragon Mobile Masters victory. “Siyempre, kahit sino mag-champion dagdag talaga yun sa confidence nila. Nakakatulong yon, lalo na yung pagkatalo namin sa SIBOL. Nakita namin ano yung dapat namin ayusin.”
ONIC PH suffered a rather tough loss against Team Liquid PH during SIBOL’s IESF National Team Selection tournament. However, as Kelra said, that didn’t slow the team down, and they’re really gearing up to fight for the upper bracket spot in the MPL PH S15 playoffs.
It’s 50/50
Standing in their way, however, are Omega Esports and Twisted Minds, the two teams who are still in the running for the last playoffs spot.
Omega still has two matches ahead of them but Twisted Minds only have ONIC PH left. Despite this, Kelra believes that Twisted Minds has what it takes to clutch it out. “Sila yung naglalabas ng maraming bago tapos kita mo sa galaw nila na talagang nag improve sila compared sa week one nila. Sobrang ganda ng laro nila.”
Of course, it’s likely that Twisted Minds has to beat them to get the spot. But Kelra honestly believes that considering the stakes, it’s anyone’s game.
“Sa MPL PH, yung top eight kaya talunin yung top one. Mahirap talagang i-predict. Tapos kailangan namin yung upper bracket tapos kailangan nila yung playoffs spot so hindi ko talaga masabi.”
Banner photo from MOONTON Games.