In the battle of the league’s best, Blacklist International dissected ONIC PH in Game Three for the 2-1 reverse sweep to take solo lead in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League-Philippines Season Eight, Sunday night.
Blacklist International extended its unbeaten streak to six games – securing the top spot with a league-high 15 points while also handing ONIC PH its second-straight loss, sliding down the second place with 13 points through a 4-2 standing.
Despite yielding the first blood to ONIC PH, Blacklist International still took an overwhelming advantage in Game Three – leaving Kairi “Kairi” Rayosdelsol’s Claude in the dust.
For his excellent initiations and well-timed catches on Kairi, Salic “Hadji” Imam’s Chou was awarded the SMART 5G MVP with a game-high 11 assists laced with a kill and three deaths in the dominant 17-8 win which lasted for just 12 minutes and 38 seconds.
Also making his presence felt in the clincher is gold laner Kiel “OHEB” Soriano’s Harith who finished with six kills and nine assists against just one death.
“Nakangiti kami [nung kinuha yung Alice], kasi kahit kunin nila yung Alice iniisip siguro nila yun lang alam ko kasi yun lang puro pinapagamit sakin,” said OHEB after the win. “Pero ‘pag nagpapractice kami marami rin akong ginagamit yun lang talaga yung pinapa-pick sakin.
“Nung nakapag Harith ako mas masaya ako kasi mas [kabisado] ko talaga yun kesa kay Alice,” added OHEB.
After getting the Estes in Game One, Blacklist International showed up with pure dominance in the early game. In fact, they were one siege away from clinching the 1-0 advantage.
That, however, until Gerald “Dlar” Trinchera’s Paquito spoiled the fun for the Tier One-backed squad.
With Blacklist International already gearing up for the finals siege, Dlar managed to secure a three-man knock-up from his Knockout Strike which resulted in a kill on OHEB’s Alice, arguably the most dominant hero in Game One, as the team also secured a kill on Johnmar “OhMyV33NUS” Villaluna’s Estes.
This allowed ONIC PH to defend their base and go straight down the middle lane for the death push.
Dlar then went deep inside Blacklist’s base, chasing down Danerie “Wise” Del Rosario’s Yi Sun-shin while the rest of the ONIC PH contingent went for the jugular. He was named the SMART 5G MVP with two kills, two deaths, and three assists in the 21:40-minute Game One.
Blacklist International fought back in Game Two, leaning on OhMyV33NUS’ Estes once more to turn back ONIC PH’s surprise Fanny pick.
The Queen, who played Estes in all three games, finished with a perfect 2-0-8 KDA in the 12-5 win en route to the SMART 5G MVP.
Blacklist International will take on RSG PH next on Friday at 8:00 PM while ONIC looks to snap its skid against Bren Esports on Saturday at 8:00 PM.
