Blacklist International moved a step closer to a Grand Finals return after overcoming a tough home stand from RRQ Hoshi, 3-2, in the upper bracket semifinals in the M4 World Championship at the Tennis Indoor Stadium Senayan in Jakarta, Indonesia on Wednesday, Jan. 11.
The Filipino representatives showed exactly why they are the defending champions of the tournament, displaying the championship poise in the nerve-wracking deciding Game 5 to advance to the upper bracket finals while sending their Indonesian counterparts to the lower bracket.
With the series tied 2-2 and both teams going in a back-and-forth affair, a huge midlane clash initiated by RRQ’s Clayyy using the Divine Judgment ultimate of his Kaja on Salic “Hadji” Imam’s Pharsa pick proved to be the turning point of the hard-fought contest.
The two teams engaged in a huge 5-on-5 clash that saw all the players going low on their HP bars before disengaging. Three players on each side were the casualty in that clash but because Blacklist players were the first to be taken down during that fight, they were also the ones who respawned first, allowing them to go for a burst on the luminous Lord.
RRQ managed to contest in time, even completing a huge Lord steal from a clutch retribution from Alberttt’s Ling but the contest proved to be costly as the Blacklist went for the enemy base after taking out Clay’s Kaja.
Kiel “Oheb” Soriano put up a perfect 3-0-6 line on his Claude while Hadji on the Pharsa, despite the direct counters in the Yu Zhong and Kadita picks, was still able to make a huge impact with his 3-2-4 line.
It was actually the RRQ which drew first blood in the series with a tight 18-19 victory in Game 1 but Blacklist quickly equalized the series with a rousing 19-5 win in Game 2.
Feeling the momentum, Blacklist showed no letup in Game 3 and cruised to a 23-10 win in the third game. Not going down without a fight in front of a huge home crowd, RRQ dragged the game to a decider with a convincing 15-10 win.
Just when the momentum was already on the side of the Indonesians, the Filipinos showed great resolve and pulled off the win that also ended Blacklist’s losing streak to Indonesian teams which started in the MPL Invitational and continued in the IESF World Esports Championship last December.
Blacklist now awaits the winner between MPL Indonesia champion Onic Esports and fellow PH representative ECHO in the other bracket.