Blacklist International head coach Kristoffer “Bon Chan” Ricaplaza weighed in on the controversial claim of Nexplay Evos assistant coach and Aether clan figurehead Setsuna “Dogie” Ignacio that the Sibol MLBB team composed of the Blacklist core has a slim chance of winning against Indonesia in the Southeast Asian Games.
In a vlog, Bon Chan pondered on how Dogie arrived to such claims, saying that he probably based it on NXPE’s scrimmages against Indonesian teams.
“Siguro dahil kapag kalaban nila yung Indo mahirap and then pag kalaban nila kami and other PH team madali, isa yun sa mga legit na reference kung san ka magbabase,” said Bon Chan.
“Siguro ang maganda na sinabi niya ay kapag nakalaban natin ang Indo, mahihirapan tayo ganun siguro, ang kaso 90-percent chance na manalo ang Indo parang ang chance lang natin manalo, pag nag lag or nadisconnect ang mga Indo teams,” added Bon Chan referring to the controversial loss of Alter Ego against EVOS Indonesia in MPL Indonesia where one player got disconnected for more than 10 seconds in the crucial moments before the game got paused.
While performance in scrimmage is important to teams, it cannot gauge how good a team really is, according to Bon Chan. He even cited Blacklist’s performance in its scrims against RRQ Hoshi where it normally lost on lopsided fashion.
In M3, Blacklist swept the Indonesian powerhouse in the lower bracket semifinals.
With a few weeks left before the SEAG, a lot can still happen in the current META that could favor any of the top 2 ML regions.
“Marami pa bagong meta, meron pa tayong less than a month, marami pang patch na mangyayari asahan nyo na may mga major na pagbabago na magaganap,” said Bon Chan.
Nonetheless, the M3 Champion coach disagrees to what Dogie is saying.
“Ayoko mang hype pero ito lang masasabi ko nag eenjoy sila nakalaban ang Indonesia kapag scrim while kapag PH, sobrang hassle kalaban ng mga MPL PH team,” said Bon Chan.
“Mas mahirap kalaban ang PH teams compared sa Indonesian teams yun ang masasabi ko,” he stressed.