With only two wins to show this season, Blacklist International is one of the teams within the danger zone of missing the playoffs, and one of the major reasons is the lack of a solid shot caller that Renejay “Renejay” Barcase provided last season.
After joining Blacklist International, Renejay, who used to play the exp lane, slowly flourished into one of the country’s premier roamers, playing behind Jonmar “OhMyV33NUS” Villaluna in Season 11 and becoming the main roamer in Season 12, where they finished third in the M5 World Championship.
Blacklist head coach Kristoffer “BON CHAN” Ricaplaza admits that the absence of Renejay has been severely felt by the team this season.
“Malaking factor din talaga kasi na-build up din namin si Renejay as a natural shot caller namin nung previous season. Ngayon nasa process pa rin kami na binibuild up si Hadji,” he said.
“Before kasi before mag-start yung season talagang nagsaspam na si Renejay ng mga position five na heroes kaya mas naimprove niya yung pagiging shot caller niya.”
The lack of solid shot calling was evident during their latest loss at the hands of ECHO, where they squandered a 4k net worth lead midway through Game 2 to succumb to a 2-0 loss.
“Decision-making ang naging problem namin. Di na naman namin nahold yung malaking lead namin hanggang sa dumating dun sa lord fight kung saan nakabawi yung ECHO,” BON CHAN said of their loss to ECHO.
Despite the struggles in Season 13, BON CHAN remains confident that Blacklist can make a fourth straight post-season appearance.
“Ang ayoko lang mangyari na mapunta sa kamay ng iba yung kapalaran namin para makapasok ng playoffs. But as long as hindi kami nagrerelax kahit na lose streak, siguro kumpiyansa pa rin akong makakapasok kami,” he said.
