MANILA, Philippines -- Debuting team Aurora secured an M6 World Championship berth after defeating M5 World champion Falcons AP Bren, 4-2, to move on to the Mobile Legends Professional League (MPL) Philippines Season 14 grand finals.
Having already beaten local champion Team Liquid Philippines, Aurora started the series slowly with a 3-20 defeat as Falcons AP Bren made quick work of the newest team of the league.
But Aurora managed to find its groove, setting up team fights in its favor to take three consecutive games and propel itself to match-point. Falcons AP Bren managed to prolong the series with an aggressive Game Five win, but eventually it was Aurora that advanced to the grand finals after successfully out-drafting Falcons AP Bren in Game 6.
The win sees Aurora take the last Philippine slot in the coming M6 World Championship happening in Malaysia this December. This marks the first international tournament for goldlaner Jan “Domeng” Del Mundo and sixthman/team analyst Ben "Benthings" Maglaque, while it is the first M-series for jungler Jonard "Demonkite" Caranto, who had already made his international debut during the MSC 2022 with RSG Philippines.
Though the team pulled off one of the upsets of the season, there's no time to celebrate as Aurora is focused on their next goal: the MPL Philippines Season 14 crown.
“Yung totoo, hindi pa totally sobrang saya. Ilang beses na naming naabot yung M-series pero yung champion, lalo na ako as head coach ng isang team na mag-champion sa MPL [ay] hindi ko pa nagagawa,” said Aurora head coach Aniel “Master the Basics” Jiandani during the post-match interview.
The best-of-seven grand finals of the will take place today, October 20, at 5 p.m.