The top seed of Group A made light work of Team Malaysia in the first semifinal match.
The Philippines overcame an early loss against Team Malaysia on the first map to take three straight wins, securing their country a silver medal at the very least. The Philippines were ruthless from the second game onwards, rampaging their way through the Team Malaysia line-up on multiple occasions. For all their might and muster, the Malaysians could not keep up to the pace and tempo set by Team Philippines.
Malaysia will now drop to the lower bracket final instead where they will wait for the loser of the other semifinal match to determine who walks home with the bronze medal. The other semifinal match is between hometown heroes, Team Vietnam going up against Team Singapore.
The first match of the series seemed evenly matched with both teams gauging what the other is trying to do. Eventually, the Philippines would start to press the issue, forcing Team Malaysia's hand in uncomfortable team fights. However, through some great team play, the SEM9 boys were able to overcome the early onslaught from the Philippines before going on the aggressive themselves and securing some much-needed objectives and kills.
Sadly, it all started to go downhill from there as the Philippines would pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and go on to take the next three games of the series. The second game was a big turnaround for the Filipinos, who have looked second-best up to that point. But from the get-go of the second game, Team Philippines did not hold back against their opponents, who soon crumbled under the pressure.
What followed in the third game showed just how strong the Philippines will be to deal with in the finals as they never let their foot off the gas after the second game. They started the third match in strong form, claiming early kills during the first few minutes to disrupt Team Malaysia's flow as much as possible. This culminated in Team Malaysia getting wiped in the late game after attempting to contest Team Philippines at the Baron's pit but to their dismay, it did not work out at all.
The fourth and final game started similarly to the second and third games with the Philippines gaining an early lead and not letting it go, even for a second. Try as they might, Team Malaysia could not break down the Philippines' defences. It also didn't help that they were constantly being outmanoeuvred and outplayed. While they did put up a valiant effort, it was not enough for Team Malaysia to make an impact before the Philippines went for the killer blow to secure a top-two finish as well as a silver medal at the very least.
The next semifinal series between host nation Vietnam and Singapore will begin soon to determine who will be fighting for gold and who will be fighting for bronze.
