Following their sweep against Smart Omega last Saturday and 2-1 win against TNC last Sunday, Aurora Gaming currently leads the race to playoffs, as the MPL PH Season 15 regular season comes to a conclusion this weekend. With one more game week to play, for Aniel “Master the Basics” Jiandani, anything can still happen.
It was a double celebration for the seasoned coach last April 26, as he celebrated his birthday with a win alongside his team and loved ones.
“Sinurprise ako ng partner ko. Nandoon yung bagong family kasi nga birthday ko so yun, parang double win siya. Pero wala sana kaming planong mag-celebrate kasi nga yung panalo namin is hindi pa naman ganoon kalaki yung impact.”
“Yes, siguro one step to upper bracket pero yung goal pa din ng team is playoffs na at least makuha namin yung trophy. “, he added.
As one of the most creative coaches in the league when it comes to drafting, he’s widely known for winning games with catching teams off-guard through his pocket picks and unexpected team compositions. For Coach MTB, the credits goes as well to his exceptional players.
“Para sa akin hindi magwowork yung draft ko kung hindi kayang laruin ng players and hindi rin namin kayang i-execute kung ano yung idea ng draft.”, he said.
“Kahit ano kagaling ang isang drafter kung hindi kayang i-execute ng players, hindi magwo-work. And kahit gaano ka-pangit yung draft kung sobrang galing nung execution, minsan naidadaan nila sa execution.”
“Importante na mag-connect yung tatlo: draft, execution saka syempre yung mismong naging plano.”, he added.
RORA playbook
With one more week into the regular season, the playoff season approaching and the new patch released having hero reworks and adjustments, Coach Master the Basics assures fans that there’s still a lot of tricks left to be unveiled.
“Marami eh. As in sa practices kasi namin, hindi kami yung team na stick lang sa kung ano yung alam namin kasi based on experience, lalo na against top teams. Usually kapag paulit-ulit yung ginagawa mo, for example ginamit mo siya ng week 1, expect mo week 2 either iba-ban na nila yan or sasagutin na nila. Pagdating ng week 3, hindi na talaga siya magwo-work, parang ganun, So importante talaga na every week, meron kang at least something na baon”
When it comes to their Week 8 matches against Team Liquid PH and Team Falcons PH, he remains cautious of his counterparts.
“Experience-wise syempre mas papahirapan ako ni Coach Trebor. Pero nung M6 kasi isa sa mga si Coach Arsy ng Team Falcons na tumalo din sa min.”
“So siguro, revenge ang ano namin dun sa battle against TLPH (sa M6). Pero dahil nga (Team) Liquid na siya ngayon, so damay na yung buong Team Liquid.”, he teased.
“Experience-wise, si coach Trebor. Pero potential-wise, maganda rin yung magiging coaching din ni Coach Arsy.”
He ended the interview with a message for one of the opponents he’s looking forward to the most.
“For Oheb syempre, ang ganda ng performance niya. Nag-connect talaga siya sa Team Liquid.”
“Magkikita tayo sa playoffs. Yan ang sigurado.“