Playing in the biggest game yet of his MLBB pro esports career, Renejay “RENEJAY” Barcase stepped up and rallied Blacklist International to a 3-1 victory over Indonesia’s Geek Fam to advance to the lower bracket semifinals in the M5 World Championships on Friday, Dec. 15 at the Rizal Memorial Gymnasium.

The Codebreakers recovered from smashing defeat in the series opener as Renejay took over and led the hometown bets to three-straight wins in the series to keep their title run alive in the lower bracket.

With momentum on the side of the Allen “Baloyskie” Baloy and Marky “Markyyy” Carpaccio-led Indonesian and after absorbing a deflating 10-1 loss in Game 1, Renejay proved to be a beacon of light to Blacklist as he dictated the tempo in the second game with his Mathilda pick.

Adjusting well to the map pressure Geek Fam was trying to employ, Renejay made sure to protect and give Kiel “Oheb” Soriano’s Ixia pick to get his farm and the mid-game power spike.

Upon getting his core items, there was simply no looking back for Oheb who dominated the ensuing team fights to finish with a 7-3-9 line. Renejay, of course, was the star of the show with a clean 2-0-16 KDA on his Mathilda as Blacklist scored the equalizer with a 19-9 win.

Stephen “Sensui” Castillo also had his share of the spotlight when he showed the way in Blacklist’s tight 10-9 Game 3 win.

Sensui disrupted the enemy lines using his Akai – a strategy that made the game tough for Geek Fam. It was evident in the 17-minute Lord dance that resulted in Blacklist scoring a four-man wipe.

Markyyy on the Claude was the lone player left to defend the base for Geek Fam against a complete Blacklist team which managed to survive the messy clash thanks to the sustain from Renejay’s Rafaela.

The former EXP laner, utilizing a Blacklist’s signature Estes pick,  showed no letup in the series-clinching Game 4, this time, helping his crew survive an ambush from Luke’s Lapu-Lapu during a 14-minute skirmish. 

Blacklist managed to turn things around and took out three Geek Fam heroes to take the Lord and the gold lead. Renejay repeated the same heroics during a 17-minute clash where Blacklist scored another 3-1 trade to close out the series with a 13-7 win.