Blacklist International is eager to make the playoff push in the second half of the eliminations as it hopes to give itself a fighting chance to defend its MPL Philippines title.
The M3 World Champion kicked off that plan on Saturday as they got back on the winning track with a crucial 2-1 victory over Nexplay Evos which kept its playoff bid afloat at the No. 6 spot of the league standings.
Blacklist is currently holding on to a precarious three-point cushion over seventh seeded team Omega Esports which gave them an inside track of the sixth and final playoff spot although they still need to collect more victories and points to climb up the standing and spare themselves from possible elimination.
Kiel “Oheb” Soriano said that the Agents can expect the team to give its best to string consecutive wins in the second round of the regular season and improve its standings.
“Mas tumatagal mas makikita nila kaming nanalo. Ayaw rin naman namin malaglag sa regular season sikapin talaga namain na maitawid itong regular season,” said the M3 MVP during the post-game interview.
“Di pa talaga tapos mahaba pa ito gapang talaga,” echoed three-time MPL champion Jason “Eson” Gerardo.
The defending champions had a forgettable start to its three-peat bid, only winning once in the first round of the eliminations.
Oheb admitted that even the team didn’t expect such struggles early on although he stressed that the two-time MPL kings are slowly learning how to navigate through the unfamiliar territory.
“Mabigat sya kasi di naman namin inexpect na magiging ganito yung run namin kasi the past tournaments laging (panalo) pero naoovercome naman namin,” explained Oheb.
“Habang tumatagal ‘yung mga laban, mas nakakapag adjust naman kami tsaka natutunan namin yung mga mali namin nakakapag adjust kami,” he added.
While the string of misfortunes greatly affected their mindset, Eson also explained that its crucial for the team to control their emotions if they wish to overcome the adversity.
“Nararamdaman mo kasi talaga yung pagod kapag puro talo nagiging emotional ka rin talaga. Talagang enjoyin na lang talaga,” he added.
Blacklist can try to score its first win streak in Season 9 when it takes on league-leading ECHO on Sunday.