OHEB shines anew as Blacklist downs NXPE for upper bracket semis spot

By REYNALD MAGALLON

Kiel “OHEB” Soriano took the spotlight once again as he spearheaded Blacklist International to a 2-1 victory over Nexplay Evos and secure an outright spot in the upper bracket semifinals in the MPL Philippines Season 8 on Saturday, October 2.

OHEB put up another superb performance in the series with clean scores of 6-0-1 KDA on his Kimmy and 6-0-6 KDA on his Natan in Games 1 and 3, respectively, as Blacklist stretched its record-setting win streak to 11.

With the defending champions needing only a point to secure an outright semis spot in the upper bracket, Blacklist easily steamrolled in Game 1 with a dominating 8-3 victory. He got ample support from Salic “Hadjizy” Imam who contributed a kill and five assists without a death on his tank Chou to claim MVP honors.

NXP, however, put up a brave stand in Game 2 behind a stellar performance from John Paul “H2wo” Salonga on his Lancelot who finished with game-high nine kills, three assists and a single death. He was backstopped by Tristan “Yawi” Cabrera, who made the plays for NXP with his signature Grock and finished with nine assists against a lone death. Jeniel “YellyHaze” Bata-Anon’s Yve was also instrumental for NXP which forced a winner-take-all Game 3 following a 15-6 Game 2 victory.

NXP leaned on the same draft picks in Game 3 as it proved to work well against Blacklist’s patented UBE strat. It led for the most part of the game until Blacklist picked off Yawi’s Grock and secured a Luminous Lord at the 23-minute mark.

Blacklist players didn’t let that small opening go to waste as they went on to punish NXPE for their late game errors to seal the deal in Game 3 in 26 minutes and with an even 12-12 tally.

NXP Evos, despite losing the game, kept its spot in the standings at fifth with 15 points built from its 4-6 win-loss record.