Blacklist International has accomplished half of the mission it set during the start of the season.
The M3 titlists successfully booked a ticket for their title defense in the M4 World Championship following an emphatic 3-0 sweep of ECHO in the upper bracket finals of the MPL PH Season 10 playoffs at the Blue Leaf Cosmopolitan on Saturday, Oct. 22.
Blacklist actuall bucked a slow start as ECHO opened the contest with guns blazing as Karl “Karltzy” Nepomuceno scored an early triple kill. The Codebreakers, though, managed to weather the initial storm and when they did there was no looking back as they went on to cruise the rest of the way to the Grand Finals.
ECHO was able to build a sizable margin in Game 1 with Karltzy wreaking havoc early, even completing a triple kill with only a little over a minute left passed the game clock.
The lane management from Edward’s Benedetta and effective zoning from Hadji’s Pharsa allowed Blacklist to drag the match to the late game where Oheb on the Claude took matters in his own hands, one-by-one peeling the HPs of the ECHO heroes in every clash to draw the series first blood after a come-from-behind 16-18 win.
Oheb finished with a 6-4-5 line while Wise unloaded a 3-2-5 tally on his surprise jungle Fredrinn pick.
Riding the crest of the Game 1 win, Blacklist went on to shock ECHO with another pocket pick in Wise’s jungle Guinevere. ECHO tore a page from Blacklist head coach Kristoffer “Bon Chan” Ricaplaza's playbook with a double-sustain lineup with Rafaela and Faramis picks.
Blacklist, though, perfectly read through the ploy as Oheb on the Claude came up unmolested anew on his farm allowing to dish out a perfect 8-0-3 line to spearhead the 13-6 Game 2 onslaught.
With one win away from a return trip to M4, Blacklist showed no letup as M3 MVP Oheb completed a series long brilliance with a 4-0-2 line on the Claude while Wise and Hadji unleashed a 3-0-3 KDA on the Fredrinn and 1-0-6 on the Pharsa to put the finishing touches to the dominant win.
Blacklist now awaits its opponent in the Grand Finals which can still come from ECHO, RSG Philippines and Bren Esports.