Blacklist International will be testing its mettle against up-and-coming teams while Onic Ph is set to face familiar foes in the group stages of the Mobile Legends Bang Bang: M3 World Championship following the results of the official draw on Saturday, November 6.
The Philippine squads got favorable groupings during the draw as two-time MPL Philippines champions Blacklist is set to tackle first-timers in the M-series Worlds while Onic PH will be battling it out against familiar opponents in its group.
Blacklist was drawn in Group A with champions Red Canids from MPL Brazil, Malvinas Gaming from Latin America Qualifiers and Bedel from the Turkey Qualifiers. Onic PH, on the other hand, was grouped with fellow teams from the Southeast Asia in Onic Esports from Indonesia and Todak from Malaysia together with Brazil’s Keyd Stars in Group B.
Group C is composed of Evos Singapore, Cambodia’s See You Soon, Natus Vincere of CIS/Russia and Blood Thirsty Kings from North America while Group D will have Malaysian champions Team SMG, RRQ of Indonesia, GX Squad from Middle East qualifers and RSG Singapore.
The group stage, which will happen on December 6 to 9, is only a one-game duel between teams in a single round-robin format with the top two teams of each group advancing to the upper bracket while the bottom two getting a spot in the lower bracket of the playoffs in the final nine days of the tournament. No team will be eliminated at the end of the group stage.
Matches in the upper bracket will be in a best-of-five series while games in the lower bracket will be in a best-of-three except the lower bracket finals which will be in a best-of-five showdown. The Grand Finals on December 19 will be a best-of-seven series with the winner getting $300,000 prize.
Blacklist will immediately see action in the Day 1 of the tournament on December 6 against Red Canids at 2 p.m., Bedel at 4 p.m. before rounding out its group stage with a match against Malvina Gaming at 6 p.m. (all schedules in Manila time).
Onic PH meanwhile will get its baptism of fire against Onic ID in its first match at 2 p.m. in Day 2 before following it up against Todak at 5 p.m.. Onic PH then finishes it group stage assignments with a clash against Keyd Stars at 7 p.m.