Allen “Baloyskie” Baloy and Aaron “JanaaQT” Lazaro led the way as Geek Fam pulled off the biggest upset so far in the MPL Invitational 2022, eliminating MPL Philippines Season 10 champion Blacklist International, 2-0, on Saturday, Nov. 5
The two Filipino imports joined hands with EXP laner Luke “Luke” Valentinus in the shock sweep of the defending world champions which somehow came as a redeemer of some sort from their subpar campaign in the MPL Indonesia Season 10 where it even failed to advance to the playoffs.
The writings were already on the wall in Game 1 when Baloyskie punished the aggression from the Filipino champions with his Ruby pick, helping Geek Fam survive the initial assault from Blacklist before going for their own counter engage.
The setups from Baloyskie fed his core heroes with kills and gold with JanaaQT benefitting the most to finish with an impressive 14-3-4 KDA on the jungle Aamon pick. Baloyskie added a 2-2-14 KDA as the Indonesian crew came away with a lopsided 21-10 Game 1 win.
Riding the momentum from the Game 1 win, Geek Fam then proved that its opening series win was no fluke as it completed a repeat of the dominant triumph in the opener.
The Indonesian team made Blacklist pay for sticking to almost the same composition it used in Game 1 in the series-clinching Game 2.
This time though it was Luke on the Fredrinn which made life difficult for Blacklist squishy heroes in Hadji’s Valentina and Oheb’s Claude especially during team fights. Although Blacklist showed some semblance of life with the setup from Wise’s Akai and OhmyV33nus’ Lolita, Geek Fam didn’t back down and scored key pick-offs on Blacklist to secure the final Lord.
An ill-advised engagement at the mid lane then spelled doom for Blacklist as the Lord freely marched the top lane and went for the base lock, ending the series in favor of Geek Fam.
Luke and Baloyskie held the frontline for Geek Fam with a 1-2-13 and 2-5-12 lines on the Fredrinn and Mathilda while JanaaQT locked on Blacklist key heroes to finish with a 6-3-3 KDA on the jungle Gusion pick.