Blacklist International head coach Kristoffer “Bon Chan” Ricaplaza has no qualms with his team getting tagged as the tournament's Indonesian slayers after eliminating two powerhouse squads in their lower bracket encounters at the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang M3 World Championship.
The back-to-back MPL PH champion coach, in fact, has embraced it when asked by the members of the media in the aftermath of its 3-0 beatdown of Indonesian powerhouse team RRQ Hoshi.
Bon Chan even likened it to Manny Pacquiao’s time when he got nicknamed as the 'Mexican Killer' following his victories over the brightest stars like Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales and Juan Manuel Marquez.
The same could be said for Blacklist which earlier sent MPL Indonesia champions Onic Esports packing at the end of the second round of the lower bracket.
“I think it’s just the same when they entitled Manny Pacquiao as 'Mexican Killer' so maybe it’s the same to us that we have been titled as Indonesian killers. So far it’s true, we brought them home,” said Bon Chan.
Although Philippines and Indonesia were seen as the rivals, Blacklist has the numbers in almost every major tournament in the international stage.
Since winning the MPL PH Season 7 crown, Blacklist only lost once in the six instances it went up against an Indonesian team. The only lost came during the Grand Finals match against Onic Esports in the MPL Invitational last month. But other than that, it was all Blacklist which dominated the matchup.
The PH champs first clobbered Bigetron Alpha in the group stage of the Mobile Legends Bang Bang Southeast Asia Cup (MSC) before sweeping Evos Legends, 3-0, in the upper bracket finals.
Blacklist then took down RRQ Hoshi, 2-1, in the semis of the MPLI before it reasserted its mastery of the Indonesians in M3 with big wins against Onic and RRQ.
For Bon Chan, who executed brilliant drafts in their game against RRQ, it always boil down to the preparation when you face against formidable Indo squads.
“I’m just sticking to our initial plan when we strategize, we are still sticking on our data, on what we saw, it depends on their play, on their strategy. We just stick on our plan.”