UNSCATCHED Lyceum and No. 2 San Sebastian College forged a gigantic upper bracket finals duel, while College of St. Benilde continued its impressive run in the lower bracket nearing the much-awaited finals of the Collegiate Center for Esports (CCE) Mobile Legends Season 1 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena Music Hall in Pasay.
Picking up where they left, the Pirates and Golden Stags hurdled their rivals in two rounds to advance to the best-of-3 upper bracket final, with the winner reaching the best-of-5 title series.
The loser gets one last title shot in another best-of-three duel against CSB Astra, which hacked out multiple do-or-die wins to stay alive in the race for the inaugural crown of CCE backed by the Commission on Higher Education and with Galaxy Racer as official Esports partner, Converge as connectivity partner, Mountain Dew as gaming fuel and Cyberzone as venue partner.
Fresh from a 9-0 wipeout of the elims, Lyceum slightly lost steam and fell to Arellano University before showing steely resolve to earn a 2-1 win.
That paved the way for a more focused Pirates as they made short work of Mapua University in the next round to qualify for the UB finals and boost their drive to a follow-up of their championship in the Varsity Cup that served as CCE’s launching event last year.
San Sebastian had the same path after a 2-1 win over Emilio Aguinaldo College and a 2-0 triumph against Letran on its way to a UB finale date with its rival.
But CSB stole the thunder from UB contenders in the playoffs, shining the brightest, with a stellar run in the LB that featured tougher win-or-go-home elimination matches instead of best-of-three duels.
