Falcon Esports gets confidence boost with big wins over Blacklist, says coach Dale
Falcon Esports’ big wins over defending champion Blacklist International in the group stage were a much-needed confidence boost for the Burmese team ahead of the playoffs according to its Filipino coach Steve “Dale” Vitug.

Falcon shocked Blacklist twice, first in their group stage meeting where the Burmese squad clobbered the Filipinos, 16-3, before proving that it wasn’t a fluke in the tiebreaker match with another convincing 22-10 win to top Group A standings.
Dale, however, reminded his wards to not get too carried away with the victory and keep their eyes on the bigger prize ahead of the playoffs that will fire off on Friday, Jan. 6.
“Una sa lahat masaya kasi naka-secure kami ng upper bracket pero that doesn’t mean na tapos na yung laban,” said Dale.
“Kumbaga yung panalo namin and pag-secure ng upper bracket is momentum para sa team. Since Blacklist is the defending champion, I think the win today is a confidence boost for the team,” he added.
Falcon got tripped in its first game of the tournament, losing to Incendio but managed to bounce back big with victories over Burn X Flash and Blacklist to force a three-way deadlock for the top spot. That forged the tiebreaker matches which Falcon both won -- giving the team the momentum heading into the knockout stages.
Such boosts are very much needed for Falcon as they are set to face MPL Indonesia champions Onic Esports in the first round of the upper bracket.
Dale is also set to face familiar faces during that clash with Filipino star jungler Kairi “Kairi” Rayosdelsol bannering the Indonesian representatives along with coach Denver “Yeb” Miranda.