Work Auster Force lived to fight another day after eliminating Nexplay Esports in the lower bracket of the Mobile Legends Professional League Philippines (MPL PH) Season 7 playoffs on Wednesday, May 26.

Suffering a comeback loss in the series-opener, Work regained its bearings and racked up three straight wins to rule the best-of-five duel and advance to the next round of the lower bracket.

Work will face the loser of the upper bracket joust between defending champion Bren Esports and league-leader Blacklist International.

Nexplay got its hands on its comfort picks, with jungler John Paul “H2wo” Salonga using his trademark Ling in three of the four games.

Still, Work proved to be the better team despite seeing action in only its first MPL PH season after preventing the series from going the distance behind gold laner Clarense “Kousei” Camilo and mid laner Patrick “rTzy” Grecia.

Kousei (Esmeralda) tallied 6 kills and 4 assists against 3 deaths, while rTzy (Kagura) chalked up 6 kills and 4 assists against 2 deaths in the fourth game as they led the way in their wipeout of Nexplay at the 16:10 mark.

Nexplay midlaner Dexter “Exort” Martinez respawned 20 seconds later and had the Meteor Shower available to clear the minion waves, but Work ended the game with a decisive four-man tower lock.

This is the second straight season Nexplay crashed out in the first round of the playoffs after getting swept by Bren in Season 6. – Rappler.com