Bren Esports pulled the rug from under Blacklist International to score a statement 2-1 victory in the MPL Philippines Season 10 at the ICITE Auditorium on Saturday, Sept. 17.
In the battle of former world champions, the M2 titlists outlasted the M3 winners behind the timely setups from Rowgien “Owgwen” Unigo’s Lolita pick to improve its record to 6-5 and strengthen its bid to end a two-season playoff drought.
A pick-off on Salic “Hadji” Imam’s Lunox in the top lane and a kill on Jonmar “OhMyV33nus” Villaluna’s Mathilda during a long tug-of-war for the 20-minute Luminous Lord on the opposite side of the map turned the tides towards Bren.
The M2 champs used the Lord march to take out all of Blacklist’s inhibitor turrets before leaning on a clutch Noumenon Blast ultimate from Owgwen to once again secure the Lord in the next team fight.
Bren went for the chase on Edward “Edward” Dapadap’s Uranus to which Blacklist responded with a counter engage but Owgwen saved the day anew with a four-man stun on Blacklist players using his ultimate that led to the kills of V33wise heroes.
Bren then forced the extended team fight and allowed the Luminous Lord to destroy the Blacklist base in the process.
Owgwen finished with a 1-5-8 line while Kyletzy and Pheww benefitted on his setups and finished with 4-3-6 and 4-3-10 lines, respectively.
It seemed like Bren really had the advantage over Blacklist especially during team fights as a massive clash that went to the M2 champs' favor also spelled the difference in Game 1.
Angelo “Pheww” Arcangel caught two Blacklist heroes on his Kadita’s Rough Waves ultimate to prevail with a 2-1 kill trade. Owgwen then initiated with a Fatal Link ultimate of his Atlas to score another two-man kill and allowed Bren to secure the first point of the series, 19-12.
Blacklist got back on Bren as OhmyV33nus on the Mathilda spearheaded the M3 champs' retaliation in the lopsided 14-3 Game 2 triumph to equalize the series. The crew however failed to follow up the impressive performance in Game 3 as they simply failed to counter Owgwen’s initiation.