Sanford: I Almost Gave Up in Season 16

It happened this season, in a moment small enough to miss. The standings were clear: Team Liquid PH had fallen out of the upper bracket, and for the first time in a long while, Sanford didn’t know what came next.

“Was there ever a moment you nearly gave up?” we asked Fordy. 

“To be honest, yes,” he says. His voice doesn’t rise or falter. It just stays steady, the way an exhausted man tells the truth. 

“Na-overwhelm lang ako kasi hindi ako sanay na wala kami sa upper bracket. After namin malaman na wala na kami doon, naisip ko kung para sa akin pa ba ito?”

(“I just felt overwhelmed because I’m not used to us being out of the upper bracket. After we found out we were no longer there, I started wondering if this was still for me.”)

He was talking about MPL Philippines Season 16 and how, just before the playoffs, he almost gave up on himself and on his team just because they didn’t secure an upper bracket slot in the playoffs.

For a player who’s known only the ascent—rookie to champion, champion to world champion—that kind of fall can feel like the ground giving way. 

But in the short space between despair and decision, something clicked.

The doubt became movement, the exhaustion became a reason.

“Pero naging motivation ko rin iyon kaya nakuha pa rin namin ang championship.”

(“But that became my motivation too, that’s why we still won the championship.”)

He calls it a “short moment,” but the tone of his voice betrays something deeper—how fragile the will to continue can be, even for the best. 

There’s grace in that honesty, in the admission that the heart can only take so much, even when the hands still remember how to win.

When the season ended and he stood again under the lights, holding another trophy, it wasn’t just about the scoreline. It was about choosing to stay, one more time.

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