KUALA LUMPUR: Monster Vicious (MV) looked like the third-best team in the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) Professional League Malaysia (MPLMY) up until the fourth week where everything almost fell apart.
Losses to Homebois and RSG Malaysia saw them plummet down the table.
Head coach Nur Hanis Adlan "Haru" Adnan told the team's sports psychologist that their issue was not in how they play but rather it was mental lapses.
"Recently, we had an outing as a team bonding exercise, and on the same day, our sports psychologist held a session with our players to strengthen their trust in each other.
"You can see great improvement from the players from last week because of the work that we put in outside of the game," said Hanis.
The effort to improve the players' mental fortitude has seen them record a huge victory over reigning champions Selangor Red Giants (SRG) on Friday at the Subang Jaya City Council Stadium in Serdang Jaya.
MV showed grit to come back from a one-game deficit to upstage the Mid Season Cup (MSC) champions 2-1.
"In the first game, SRG showed their experience as reigning MPLMY and MSC champions.
"During the interval, I just showed my team that we need to improve on certain parts of the game and my players made the adjustments which brought us victory," added the 31-year-old Hanis.
The defeat for SRG ended a 19-match unbeaten run in the MPLMY from the beginning of Season 13 early this year.
MV, the only team in the league with a full Malaysian roster, will face JP Niners next in the playoff stage from Oct 31 to Nov 3 at the EduCity Sports Complex's Indoor Arena in Iskandar Puteri Johor.