Blacklist International moved closer to a historic back-to-back after surviving fellow Filipino squad ECHO, 3-2, to advance to the grand finals of the M4 World Championship, Friday at the Tennis Indoor Stadium Senayan in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The Tier One-backed squad also made history by becoming the first team to make two consecutive trips to the M-series finale. They look to complete their mission on Sunday at 6:30 PM in the best-of-seven finals.
“Pareho kaming PH teams so kilala namin yung isa’t isa. Siguro yung Game One naging gauge kung ano yung pinrepare nila para sa amin and para ma-gauge rin namin if iooopen ba nila yung signature heroes namin,” said Blacklist International head coach Kristoffer “Bon Chan” Ricaplaza.
ECHO started the series with a bang and destroyed the reigning world champion, 21-2, in just almost 14 minutes of game time.
The MPL PH runner-up showcased a poking masterclass in Game One with Alston “Sanji” Pabico (Yve), Tristan “Yawi” Cabrera (Hilda), and Karl “KarlTzy” Nepomuceno (Fredrinn) constantly chipping Blacklist International’s health bars all throughout the game which opened up a lot of opportunities for Sanford “Sanford” Vinuya (Dyroth) and Benedict “Bennyqt” Gonzales (Harith).
Blacklist International failed to establish footing as ECHO quickly took a 1-0 series advantage.
The Tier One-backed squad, though, bounced back quickly and negated ECHO’s Faramis-Estes combo en route to a 14-7 Game Two win in 17 minutes.
ECHO then took Game Three but Blacklist International stopped a Bennyqt (Harith) heist in Game Four to send the game to a decider.
In Game Five, Salic “Hadji” Imam stole the spotlight with a masterful Valentina performance that saw him tally a clean 8-0-9 KDA line and lead Blacklist International to a 22-11 win in 16 minutes of game time.
ECHO will face the winner of the RRQ Hoshi-ONIC Esports series in the lower bracket finals tomorrow, Saturday at 7:00 PM.
