MANILA — Jaypee "Jaypee" Cruz has been the butt of many — if not most — tirades against ECHO as they tumbled into a five-game losing skid spanning from the MPL Season 12 regular season.

With Jaypee on the main five since the start of the season, many wondered about the future of star player Tristan "Yawi" Cabrera in the team. When ECHO started their skid, others went as far as firing tirades on his personal life.

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But ECHO's players said everything has to do with what's happening inside the game and not outside.

“Hindi naman po sa mayroong nagagawa si Jaypee na hindi nagagawa si Yawi, kasi mayroon din namang nagagawa si Yawi na hindi nagagawa ni Jaypee — mas may fit lang talaga si Jaypee sa'min," Benedict "BennyQT" Gonzales said in a post-match press conference.

The current meta focuses on healers and support heroes, while Yawi is one of the most mechanically oriented players — those of which made ECHO the "House of Highlights."

Yawi was only put out once, in a non-bearing game against AP Bren where they lost 1-2. Yawi fielded in Minotaur in two games, one of the fewer more viable crowd control heroes in the current meta, while AP Bren allowed his signature Chou out in the open during the rubber match which ECHO conceded to.

Then, a lot of ECHO's bans were oriented on utility heroes such as Angela, Mathilda, and Diggie, which is a known pest to tanks. Meanwhile, AP's bans focused on Yawi's heroes in the last frame.

SanFord "SanFord" Vinuya believes the two differ in playstyles, with Yawi being more aggressive.

"Mahilig po siya [Yawi] sa mga pickoffs. Pero kapag si Jaypee, in-and-out lang po kami sa mga clash.”

Karl "KarlTzy" Nepomuceno said the way they play now is more disciplined.

"Nabibigyan niya ang team and hindi kami go nang go kahit lugi kami tapos hindi kami sumusubsob nang sobra kasi alam nila ang playstyle namin na sugod nang sugod eh tapos ngayon po siguro medyo balanced kami," the two-time world champion shared.