Blacklist International clinched the first spot in the grand finals of the MPL Philippines Season 7 along with a ticket to the Mobile Legends Southeast Asia Cup (MSC) 2021 after dousing Aura PH, 3-1, in the playoffs upper bracket finals on Saturday, May 29.
With captain-support Jonmar "OhMyV33nus" Villaluna's signature Mathilda and tank Jayson "ESON" Gerardo's Diggie at the forefront, Blacklist enabled its double marksman setup of Danerie James "Wise" Del Rosario's Granger and Kiel "OHEB" Soriano's Beatrix to dominate Game 1 for a 20-6 romp in just 14 minutes.
OhMyV33nus' "Mathilda airlines" took flight en route to an impressive stat line of five kills and 12 assists against zero deaths.
It was OhMyV33nus' turn on Diggie in Game 2 while ESON got his Rafaela to fuel Blacklist's "ultimate bonding experience" tactic once again for a 14-7 win in 10 minutes.
A failed gank on Wise's Granger turned to a disaster for Aura as Blacklist deleted Jaypee "Jaypee" Dela Cruz's Mathilda and Mark "LORD HADESS" Lazaro's Benedetta while Edward "EDWARD" Dapadap picked off Allen "Greed" Baloy's Luo Yi in the ninth minute.
After getting a free Lord, OhMyV33nus and the gang proceeded to foil Aura's defense and demolish their Base.
Aura evaded a sweep after staging a dominant 16-4 triumph powered by Jaypee's Rafaela and Greed's Mathilda.
But EDWARD's Benedetta and Wise's Aldous wreaked havoc early Game 4 to allow Wise's Aldous and OHEB's Harith to scale heading to the midgame and spark the 16-6 rout in 13 minutes.
Coach Kristoffer "BON CHAN" Ricaplaza and sixth man-analyst Dexter "DEX STAR" Alaba's team was the first to advance to the best-of-seven grand finals on Sunday.
The Tier One Entertainment-back squad also became the country's first representative in this year's MSC which boasts of a $150,000 (over P7 million) prize pool and is slated on June 7-13.
Coach Michael Angelo "Arcadia" Bocado's two-time MPL champion Aura dropped to the lower bracket finals where it will take on the victor between defending champion Bren Esports and Execration at posting time.