Blacklist International head coach Kristoffer “Bon Chan” Ricaplaza vowed to bounce back after his team suffered a stunning 3-2 defeat to North American squad BloodThirstyKings in the first round of the upper bracket in the Mobile Legends Bang Bang: M3 World Championship.
“Sorry nabigo namin kayo sa araw na ito pero asahan niyo babawi kami sa mga susunod naming mga laban, di pa tayo laglag may isa pa tayong buhay,” said Bon Chan during the interview with the Filipino casters in the Philippine stream of the tournament.
Bon Chan also admitted that the PH bets had a hard time against the NA representatives, although Blacklist had its chances to close out the series in the Game 4 after taking the lead early on. BTK, however staged a comeback engineered by Filipino player Zia on the Yve and roamer Shark on the Lolita.
“Lahat sila eh (mahirap kalaban). Fundamentals lang ‘yung ginagawa nila pero napaka effective. Para silang kami na objective oriented 'di sila yung tipo na humahanap ng kills, panay sila setup ng objectives sa ganun kami nadali,” explained Bon Chan.
Blacklist’s strategy to target Mobazane during draft also backfired to the squad as the rest of BTK stepped up to the plate. Interestingly, that was the same ploy that often used against Jonmar “OhmyV33nus” Villaluna or Danerie “Wise” Del Rosario, to which the Filipinos can easily counter.
“Ganun lang din yung ginagawa ng ibang teams sa amin dati, mag fofocus lang sa isang player which is dito namin naramdaman na hindi dapat ganun,” added the veteran tactician.
The two-time MPL Philippines champions were dropped to the lower bracket where a tougher and longer road lies ahead. The PH bets will now face the winner of Onic Indonesia and Team SMG.