Cikugais believes five-time champions SRG can be beaten

KUALA LUMPUR: Gold laner Danial "Cikugais" Fuad believes five-time champions Selangor Red Giants (SRG) can be beaten as Bigetron MY (BTRM) prepare for their Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) Professional League Malaysia (MPL MY) Season 18 upper-bracket semi-final on Thursday.

BTRM pushed SRG to the limit at the same stage last season before succumbing 3-2, and Cikugais wants his teammates to approach the rematch with the same belief.

They earned another crack at the defending champions by recovering from an opening-game setback to defeat Invictus Gaming (iG) 3-1 in Wednesday's play-in.

"Anything can happen because the patch has changed. Last season, we almost won but ended up losing," said Cikugais in the post-match interview.

"Our mindset last season was that SRG could be beaten. For tomorrow, we just have to play. If we win, we win; if we lose, we lose."

BTRM showed their ability to respond against iG, winning three straight games after a shaky start.

BTRM's Jungler Nazhan "Chibi" Mohd Nor said the team used the opener to understand their opponents' approach, and that their post-game discussion was straightforward.

"We just said, 'It's all right, guys. It's only 1-0,'" said Chibi.

He added that BTRM had worked on their drafting during the break before the playoffs, following an uneven second leg of the regular season.

However, match MVP Ziyad Irsyad "Zieyy" Muzzammil warned that BTRM must keep their emotions in check after nearly allowing iG back into the fourth game.

"I think we need to avoid getting too excited when we are winning. That can be dangerous," said Zieyy.

"In game four, we got too excited and almost allowed them to come back."

Zieyy hopes BTRM can build on their opening playoff victory and improve on their regular-season showing, where they finished fifth in the standings.

"Hopefully, we can do much better than we did in the regular season and give our best against SRG," he added.

In Wednesday's other play-in, Team Vamos defeated Team Flash 3-1 to set up an upper-bracket semi-final against Team Rey.