Coach Bonn “Bon Chan” Ricaplaza admitted that his squad played a little complacent in their 3-1 loss against Onic Indonesia in the Grand Finals of the ONE Esports: MPL Invitational on Sunday, Nov. 7.
After a dominating performance in the series opener, Blacklist felt the team had the advantage over the Indonesian’s champions which led to some miscues and careless positions from the players.
“Medyo nabawasan lang din yung discipline namin kung mapapansin niyo yung Game 2 dapat sa amin,” Coach Bon Chan admitted during the post-game presser.
The two-time champion coach was pertaining to the Game 2 loss where Onic ID managed to score a come-from-behind win. Blacklist was on the lead for the most part of the series with Salic “Hadji” Imam’s Tank Chou and Jonmar “OhmyV33nus” Villaluna’s Mathilda putting on the pressure against Onic.
A crucial pick off on Danerie “Wise” Del Rosario, near Onic’s purple buff pit, however, allowed Onic to create the space it needed and drag the game longer.
Onic’s double-marksman setup anchored on Adrian “Drian” Larsen Wong’s Natan and Gilang “Sanz” Yi Sun Shin then took over in the latter part of the game to tie the series.
“Medyo nabawasan ‘yung discipline namin medyo nahype kami sa sobrang lamang na natin parang kayang kaya,” he added.
Despite the Game 2 meltdown, Blacklist still had the chance to take home the country’s first MPLI title in Games 3 and 4. Onic, though, didn’t want to lose grip of the momentum as the team’s drafting strategy worked wonders in the next two games.
The plan actually paid off for the Indonesians, highlighted by the Game 3 draft where they were able to force Wise to use a jungler Granger while a surprise Onic’s mid lane Claude pick did wonders in Game 4.
“Triny na nila iba’t-ibang combination ng bans hanggang sa nakarating dun sa punto na ‘ah dito medyo nahihirapan yung Blacklist’”, said Bon Chan whose team faced three Indonesian squads from the quarterfinals to the Grand Finals
“Dumating lang sa point na na-try na yung different approach ng bans sa amin and different approach ng kung ano ipipriority na mga hero hanggang sa umabot na sa Onic kaya kahit papaano nabreak nila yung code,” he furthered.
Bon Chan, however, made no excuses for the loss as the team plans to regroup and bounce back. He also added that the team still has a lot in store when the team dons the country’s colors anew in the MLBB: M3 World Championship in Singapore next month.
“May mga ibubuga pa naman kami.”