Blacklist International admitted that Kiel “Oheb” Soriano’s suspension was a big blow to its campaign especially in the playoffs where it fell to the lower bracket following its 3-1 loss to rival Omega Esports on Friday.

Blacklist’s Dexter “Dexstar” Alaba rued Oheb’s absence affected the chemistry of the team heading to the playoffs as the squad only had little time to reincorporate Mark “Eson” Gerardo to the team.

“Malaking factor rin kasi from Week 1 to Week 6 siya naglaro syempre yung chemistry ‘yung preparation na kay Oheb na, kumbaga kahit nakapikit na iyan alam na nila yung galaw ng isat isa,” said Dexstar during the team’s post-match presser.

“Kay Eson, 10 days lang eh, unang laro niya pa showmatch pa, mabigat yun sa part ni Eson,” he added.

Sans Oheb, Salic “Hadji” Imam who played as the roamer and support for the most part of the regular season had to adjust and play the gold lane in the first three games of their series against Omega. Although Hadji showed flashes of brilliance on his Claude, he still failed to make a huge impact in the series with Omega’s pressure focused on him.

Blacklist tried to adjust by putting Danerie “Wise” Del Rosario in the gold lane with his Aldous and Hadji on the jungler with his Karina in Game 4 but that still resulted to a loss.

Now in an unfamiliar territory, the defending champions remained unfazed as they try to climb their way back to the Grand Finals through the lower bracket.

“Masaya pa rin kasi may pangalawang buhay pa,” said Blacklist head coach Bonn “Bon chan” Ricaplaza.

“Isa na lang ‘yung buhay do-or-die kailangan na namin gawin yung mga play na prinaktis namin, maapply lang at maexecute namin ng maayos,” added Dextstar.

Blacklist will take on the Nexplay Evos which also lost earlier to Onic Philippines. It will be a do-or-die best-of-five match with the winner getting the chance to advance to the lower bracket finals and face the loser of the match between Omega and Onic in the upper bracket finals.