Week 5 of the MPL ID Season 18 regular season brought a shift in the balance of power at the halfway mark of the tournament. While some teams fought for crucial points to qualify for the playoffs, others found themselves in a difficult situation due to player health issues and unsuccessful roster experiments.
Team Liquid ID (TLID) continued to demonstrate consistent and disciplined gameplay. Securing two convincing victories during the game week thanks to a high level of macro- and micro-control, the team cemented its spot at the top of the standings and officially claimed the Half Season Champion title.
The main emergency event of the week was a medical crisis in the Dewa United Esports camp. Four active players and the organization's coaching staff simultaneously contracted a virus. For the safety of the participants, the organizers decided to postpone two of the team's scheduled matches — against EVOS and RRQ. The dates for the rescheduled games will be announced later.
Due to the illness of key midlaner Sanz, ONIC Esports was forced to make an emergency roster swap: roamer Ssamuel took over the midlane position. The emergency move did not yield results — due to broken coordination, ONIC suffered two consecutive losses in matches against Geek Fam and Alter Ego.
The postponement of matches against Dewa United did not help EVOS and RRQ escape their slump. Both titans suffered 0-2 sweep losses in their respective matches:
Special attention goes to NAVI, who practically rewrote their own history in MPL ID in just one season. As recently as last season, the team struggled severely with results and remained without a single series win at the tournament's mid-point. Now, the picture is completely different: after nine regular season matches, NAVI boasts 7 victories and only 2 losses, securing third place in the standings.
Against the backdrop of instability among several competitors at once, NAVI is gradually transforming from a team fighting for survival into one of the main contenders at the top of the table. While EVOS, RRQ, and ONIC are losing points due to roster issues, illnesses, and failed roster rotations, NAVI continues to stack up wins. It is this consistency that allowed the team to break into the top 3 after just nine games and set far more ambitious goals than simply making the playoffs.
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