Blacklist International and Omega Esports both sealed their respective spots in the MPL Philippines Season 10 playoffs after opening the all-important Week 7 of the regular season with crucial wins at the ICITE Auditorium in Libis, Quezon City on Friday, Sept. 23.
The M3 World Champion avenged its first round loss to Onic Philippines, scoring a 2-0 sweep to punch their playoff ticket while Omega frustrated Nexplay Evos with a 2-1 reverse sweep that also allowed ECHO to secure a spot in the postseason.
Blacklist displayed an evolved version of its patented UBE strat with Salic “Hadji” Imam and Jonmar “OhmyV33nus” Villaluna utilizing a midlane combination of an Estes and Faramis that provide the crew the upperhand in team fight with its unlimited sustain.
Partnered with Wise’s jungle Barats pick that provided immense jungle pressure to Sensui’s surprise Minotaur jungle, Blacklist drew first blood with a tight 9-10 win.
Riding the crest of the Game 1 win, Blacklist showed no letup as they snowballed and led by as many as 12k gold lead, to claim the sweet sweep with a dominant 8-1 win and hike up its points total to 22 points on a 7-4 record.
Omega, meanwhile, bucked a Game 1 hiccup before Duane “Kelra” Pillas took the gauntlet anew and ran wild in the second game to score the equalizer.
Joshua “Ch4knu” Mangilog then lived up to his ‘Ch4kmamba” monicker and delivered a clutch Wild Charge ultimate on his Grock to take series clinching win. NXPE’s loss denied them of possibly breaching the 20 point mark at the end of the regular season even if it wins all of its remaining games allowing Omega which currently sits at 19 points, and ECHO at 20 points to secure the playoff berth.