Blacklist International kicked off its lower bracket campaign by eliminating FireFlux Esports with a 3-1 victory in the M5 World Championships at the EVM Convention Center on Monday, Dec. 11.

The Codebreakers made sure to not fall to the same traps of their group stage tormentors, this time providing some answers to FireFlux's surprise picks and notch the big win.

Kiel “Oheb” Soriano was at the tip of the Filipinos' spear in the pivotal Game 3 win, scoring a triple kill in the crucial 13th-minute Lord fight that gave Blacklist a lead that went to as high as 7K gold.

The M3 World Champions then secured another Luminous Lord as they scored a wipeout on the base siege to take the series lead with a 16-9 win.

Oheb put up a clean 7-0-8 KDA on the Claude pick while Renejay “Renejay” Barcase provided support with a 0-3-15 line on the Rafaela.

Smelling blood, Blacklist then went on a rampage in Game 4 with Stephen “Sensui” Castillo on the jungle Akai pick disrupting the setups of Fireflux’s Tigreal and Leomord picks during team fights.

With Renejay once again giving the sustain on his Rafaela, Kenneth “Yue” Tadeo on the Valentina and Oheb on the Bruno safely dished out the damage from a safe distance.

Yue, who starred with an MVP performance in the series opener, capped the series-long brilliance with a 4-1-4 line while Oheb added a 4-1-3 KDA in the 12-4 Game 3 closeout.

The Blacklist midlaner, after getting outplayed by his counterpart Ahmet "Rosa" Batir in the group stage, made a statement in Game 1 with an impressive 3-0-3 line on the Valentina.

FireFlux, however, returned the favor in Game 2 with Sidar "Tienzy" Menteşe dazzling on his Leomord jungle with a 10-0-3 line and presided over a 16-5 equalizer. That, however, was the last point FireFlux could get as they exited the tournament at the 7th to 8th spots