Blacklist International found itself in an early collision course with familiar faces in the M4 World Championships following the group draw on Thursday, Dec. 8.
The MPL Philippines Season 10 champions and defending M-series titlists were drawn with Cambodian champion Burn X Flash, Myanmar representative Falcon Esports and Turkey’s Incendio Supremacy in Pool A.
Interestingly, the Filipinos led by the dynamic duo of Danerie “Wise” Del Rosario and Jonmar “OhmyV33nus” Villaluna will have a reunion of sorts with former Onic teammate and fellow M1 representative John Michael “Zico” Dizon who leads Burn X Flash as head coach along with Filipino gold laner Jhonwin “Hesa” Vergara.
Also no stranger to the Filipino champions is Falcon Esports head coach Steven “Dale” Vitug who also handled teams like ECHO and Omega Esport in the MPL Philippines.
Meanwhile, MPL S10 runner-up ECHO is set to have its baptism of fire in the group stage after being grouped with Indonesian runner-up RRQ Hoshi, Singapore’s RSG SG and Egypt’s Occupy Throne in Pool C.
Another interesting sidelight to the group stage action is the reunion of now RRQ coach Michael “Arcadia” Bocado with his former players at ECHO.
The Kairi “Kairi” Rayosdelsol and coach Denver “Yeb” Miranda-led Onic Esports, on the other hand, will be in Pool C, joining LATAM team Malvinas Gaming, Vietnamese crew MDG Esports and Malaysian and M-series mainstay Todak.
NA’s The Valley, which is composed by former players of BloodThirstyKings along with Filipino player Peter “Basic” Lozano, will be testing the waters against Argentina’s S11 Gaming and Malaysian crew Team HAQ.