Newly-crowned MPL Philippines Season 7 champion Blacklist International and runner-up Execration battle separate foes in the group stage of the Mobile Legends Southeast Asia Cup (MSC) 2021 slated to kick off on June 7.
Blacklist is set to lock horns with MPL Indonesia silver finisher Bigetron Alpha and M2 World Championship team Impunity KH of Cambodia in Group C, which could be considered as the "Group of Death", following the live draft on Wednesday night, June 2.
For its part, Execration will square off against inaugural MPL Singapore winner EVOS SG and Nightmare Esports of Laos in Group D of the regional tourney that stakes a total prize pool of $150,000 (over P7 million) with the champion taking home $70,000 (over P3 million).
The group stage will take place on June 7 to 9, with the top two teams cruising to the playoffs.
Blacklist will have its regional prowess tested immediately when it starts its campaign against Bigetron on June 7 at 2 p.m. while Execration will also face a tough challenge against EVOS SG at 4 p.m.
Come the second day, both the Filipino representatives are favored to prevail over their non-MPL opponents as Execration takes on Nightmare at 12 noon even as Blacklist clashes against Impunity at 6 p.m.
The final set of group matches will be held on June 9 followed by the playoffs on June 11 to 13 with the lower bracket finals and the grand finals scheduled on the final day.
MPL Indonesia champ and M1 titlist EVOS Legends is in Group B with MPL Malaysia second-placer Todak and Vietnam's Cyber Exe in Group B.
Leading Group A is MPL Malaysia winner Resurgence (RSG) MY which will tangle with sister squad RSG SG (MPL SG runner-up) and inaugural MSC victor IDONOTSLEEP of Thailand.