Blacklist International head coach Bonn “Bon Chan” Ricaplaza remained wary of other teams despite getting tagged as heavy favorites to win the Mobile Legends Professional League Invitational.
The two-time MPL champion head coach said he expects a tough mission ahead since there were a lot of teams and players which they haven’t seen play that are present in the 20-team, seven-day tournament.
One of those teams was the champion from MPL Cambodia and also a MPLI newcomer See You Soon which is seen as one of the tournament’s dark horses. Some Indonesian squads also made adjustments to their rosters ahead of the tournament.
“Not confident enough dahil maraming bagong players na di pa namin nakitang naglaro,” admitted Bon Chan who drafted a bracket that featured some of the tournament’s dark horses and poison picks.
Soon is set to face MPL Malaysia’s Todak while Bigetron Alpha will clash with Geek Fam Indonesia on the other side in Blacklist’s bracket.
Bon Chan also shared he got the picks that they wanted since Blacklist wished to avoid a Philippine team to raise the country’s chances of winning it all in the tournament.
“Hangga’t maaari nilalayo ko PH sa bracket namin para more chances of winning sa PH,” Bon Chan added.
However, two Philippine squads in Onic Philippines and Omega Esports will still lock horns in the first round of the tournament after MPL Malaysia champions Team SMG pitted the two against each other in its bracket.
The PH squads were no doubt one of the stronger teams and favorites to win the tournament especially with two PH teams in Blacklist and Omega also dominating the Mobile Legends Southeast Asia Cup in June.
Bon Chan however believed that this tournament will be entirely different from their previous MSC run due to the tournament formats.
Unlike in MSC which was a double-elimination format, MPLI uses single elimination format with Blacklist, along with other MPL champions, getting an outright spot to the Quarterfinals.
“Di natin magagaya yun (MSC run) kasi waiting agad kami dito, di gaya sa MSC magsstart lahat sa baba. Maximum of 3 matches lang kami dito if papalarin,” Bon Chan explained.