Onic Kairi and coach Yeb talk staying calm and preparations for the M5 Grand Final

Onic Esports from Indonesia were the first grand finalist of the M5 World Championship. They slammed AP.Bren in three games to none in their best-of-five upper bracket finals match led by the “best jugnler in the world,” Kairi “Kairi” Rayoldelsol.

I had a chance to get comments and speak with both Kairi and coach Yeb after their match and ahead of the Grand Final today.

Kairi: “It’s not over …”

Kairi shared what went through his mind especially in the first game of the series where AP.Bren completely dominated the early to mid game and left Onic without a single kill.The match, however, went on to present an unexpected plot twist after a late game clash near the base of Onic. The Indonesians turned the game upside down to win game one in the end, and they continued their momentum up to game three to beat the Filipino representatives for the whole series.

“It was just normal for us since we were crushed in the early to mid game from some of our previous matches. It’s part of the game, and it’s not over until it’s over.”

Lancelot wins games

All of the three games in this series saw Kairi use the assassin jungle hero Lancelot. AP.Bren did not ban Lancelot from any of the games, leaving Onic with an opening to pick the said hero.

Aside from Kairi, Nicky “Kiboy” Pontunuwu exemplified what it means to be a great roamer. His expertise as a playmaker was greatly seen in the series, especially in his Grock pick. Kairi even referred to Kiboy as their true carry player against AP.Bren.

“Our mindset earlier in game one was just to let Kiboy carry us.”

With Onic winning the upper bracket finals, they are the first team to punch their way to the grand finals of M5. This is the first time in more than three years that an all-Filipino M-Series finals won’t push through, with Indonesia taking on the Philippines in tomorrow’s grand final match.

Coach Yeb:  “You need to be calm in everything you do.”

Onic Esports head coach Denver “Yeb” Miranda spoke about his style of coaching, particularly in being a calm strategist after his team patiently took over game one of their upper bracket finals match against AP.Bren despite listing no kills in the early and mid stages of the game.

In an interview with Esports.net, Coach Yeb was asked about his calm style of coaching. It is also worth noting that he just laughs and mingles with his players in post match interviews, especially if some of the Onic players are being asked about their performances in games.

“Somehow yes, because based on my experience in esports and from what I have learned, that’s what I believe. You need to be calm in everything you do to give your very best in every game.”

Firm believer of second chances

When asked if he’ll get mad on his players if they did not manage to turn the game upside down in game one, Coach Yeb believes that every game is different, and Onic just needs to bounce back on to the next one.

“My old and new players know that I never get mad when it comes to the game itself. If we lose, we lose. So, we just need to bounce back the next game to make up for what happened in our losses.”

Onic Esports is now set to meet AP.Bren in a rematch of their Upper Bracket Final. Deus Vult chose Bren as the winner of the rematch.

Who do you got?

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