Edward “Edward” Dapadap showed the way as Blacklist International kicked off its title defense in the MPL Philippines Season 11 playoffs in style, sending rival Smart Omega Esports packing with a 3-0 victory in the first round on Thursday, May 4, at the SMX Convention Center.

Edward "Edward" Dapadap leads the way for Blacklist International in the dominant sweep of Omega Esports. (MPL Photo)

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The veteran EXP laner led the defending champions’ masterful showing with back-to-back MVP performance in the first two games as he provided the backline threat to contain Omega’s damage dealers all series long.

With the win, Blacklist sets up a marquee duel with Bren Esports in the upper bracket semifinals.

It was actually Omega which started out strong in the series opener but Blacklist easily flipped the table in the first Lord fight. Danerie “Wise” Del Rosario, showcasing a surprise Lancelot pick, completed a huge Lord steal before Edward on the Joy cleaned up Omega with a backline dive to score a four-man wipe.

Blacklist never looked back from there as it drew first blood with a 14-6 Game 1 win with Edward putting up a 2-0-5 line while Howard “Owl” Gonzales added a 5-2-2 line on Claude.

The same story happened in the second game with Edward once again creating space and the plays, giving Owl on the signature Karrie pick enough time to complete his core items.

The Codebreakers snowballed their way to a commanding 2-0 series lead behind a 14-10 demolition in Game 2. Owl led the charge with a perfect 5-0-6 line while Kenneth “Yue” Tadeo and Edward added 5-1-8 and 3-2-8 lines on the Yve and Arlott picks respectively.

Smelling blood in Game 3, Blacklist showed no let-up with Yue scoring an early triple kill to quickly set the tempo. He went on to finish with an impressive 11-0-8 line on the Valentina while Jonmar “OhmyV33nus” Villaluna provided the sustain during the crucial clashes to finish with a 1-0-18 line on the Mathilda.