MANILA, Philippines -- Colegio de San Juan de Letran overwhelmed archrival San Beda University, running away with a sweep victory to open the Collegiate Center for Esports (CCE) Mobile Legends: Bang Bang 5-on-5 Varsity Cup (MVC) with flying colors Wednesday.

Made up of Jeo Ambohot (.aCE), Jap Pambid (Acetaulava), Shan Bautista (SABAU), King Caralipio (ruki) and Allen Mina (bergss11) with Fran Yu (Letran. Fran Yu) serving as alternate, the Knights took a convincing 2-0 victory over the Red Lions squad of Damie Cuntapay (Beda. Damie Cuntapay), Yukien Andrada (Yukienflo), Justine Sanchez (Kickass), Tony Ynot (Tonyynot) and John Kevin Peregrina (supremo).

Parading a Rafaela-Chang'e-Barats-Lapu-Lapu-Esmeralda unit, the Muralla-based team earned a gritty Game 1 (17-15) win in 24 minutes after a back-and-forth battle marked by a couple of lord steals and pickoffs by each squad.

Letran would not be denied from there on, snowballing its way with a versatile Valir-Benedetta-Phoveus-Diggie-Alucard combo to a rousing 17-5 Game 2 victory in just 11 minutes.

Ambohot's Phoveus led the Knights' onslaught with a perfect 8-0 kill-death record, slamming the door on the Red Lions' potentially late-game unit of Layla and Paquito with the solid tank-support of Tigreal, Nana and Balmond.

"Di po namin in-expect na mananalo kami nang ganito (2-0 sweep). Nahirapan din po kami at 'di po namin sila masyado na-scout. Buti na lang may dalawa kaming Legend (rank) na kakampi," said Ambohot.

Explosive opener

But the explosive opener belonged to Emilio Aguinaldo College's Kyle Carlos, who flaunted a renowned carry Ling en route to the first-ever "Savage" of the CCE.

With Jomar Amador (Chou), Ralph Vincent Robin (Pharsa), Adrian De Guzman (Atlas), Christian Angelo Cabuhat (X.Borg) backstopping Carlos, he wiped out Mapua University's Warren Bonifacio (Hayabusa), Joaqui Garcia (Hilda), Jasper Salenga (Jawhead), Adrian Nocum (Khufra), and Jomer Mercado (Estes) in the homestretch of the deciding Game 3 for a close 2-1 victory.

The Generals finished the match in 14 minutes with Ling capping off his magnificent performance with eight kills and seven assists against two deaths.

"Masaya na nanalo kami. Maganda 'yung rotation at chemistry naming. Siguro kasi magkakaibigan na rin kami kaya madali yung communication at shot call," said Carlos, who finished in the Final Four of The CCE 1v1 Exhibitions last month.

De La Salle-College of St. Benilde (Carlo Lim, Baron Gabuyan, Ryan Daculan, Reiven Valera, Georgie Gauani, Leonard Jaboli) and Lyceum of the Philippines University (Lorenzo Navarro, Alvin Baetiong, Carlo Abadeza, Yancy Remulla, Shawn Umali) also emerged on top with identical 2-1 victories against Arellano University and San Sebastian College-Recoletos, respectively.

Lars Sunga, Marlon Espiritu, Kai Oliva, Diego Ilao, and Jifford Camigas represented Arellano, while Michael Are, Kenneth Villapando, JM Calma, Camillus Altamirano, Rafael Are composed the San Sebastian squad.

The Blazers banked on Jaboli's Alice with six kills and nine assists against zero deaths in the late game to fend off the Chief's comeback attempt for a feisty 19-16 Game 3 win.

For Lyceum, Umali unleashed the lethal Chang'e and finished with a legendary performance of 12-1-3 as the Pirates smothered the Stags in the rubber-match, 24-16.

Letran (1-0), EAC (1-0), Lyceum (1-0) and CSB (1-0) thus took an early lead with University of Perpetual Help System Dalta and Jose Rizal University taking their turns Thursday to complete the 10-strong cast off CCE MVC running until November 21.

All squads will battle it out in the single round robin qualifiers until November 13 with the top four squads punching their tickets in the upper bracket while the bottom four crowd in the lower bracket playoffs all the way to the best-of-five semifinals and best-of-seven finals.

The last two teams will be eliminated.