AP.Bren booked their spot in the M5 World Championship grand finals after flexing their might against Blacklist International with a dominant 3-0 sweep in the lower bracket finals on Saturday at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
The Hornets will have another crack at Onic Esports in the grand finals tomorrow, December 17, after the Indonesian champions sent them to the lower bracket with a 3-0 sweep in the upper bracket finals.
For AP.Bren head coach Francis “Duckey” Glindro, AP.Bren was dominant in the series not because they were the superior team, but because their playstyle is the natural counter to Blacklist’s.
“Hindi pangit yung pinakitang laro ng Blacklist eh. It’s probably because kontrapelo namin sila eh. It has been like that since the grandfinals of MPL PH Season 12. Kasi as you can see, nung nagkalaban yung Blacklist and Onic medyo dikit din eh,” he said.
“Yung gamestyle nila actually works with a different team. Hindi lang siguro sa amin for now.”
The reigning MPL PH champions never looked threatened as Rowgien “Owgwen” Unigo’s (Mathilda) initiations carried AP.Bren to a mammoth 13-1 kill score and went ahead 1-0 in the series after just 15 minutes in Game 1.
Owgwen continued with his brilliance in Game 2. He picked up his second game MVP citation in the series, finishing with an almost perfect 2-1-10 KDA on the Arlott pick as AP.Bren reached match point, 2-0.
Game 3 boiled down to a 17th minute lord dance where Marco “Super Marco” Requitiano (Brody) scored two kills to lead a 4-1 exchange followed by Michael “KyleTzy” Sayson’s (Martis) clutch retribution on the lord that enabled them to execute a series-clinching base turret siege.
It was the worst finish for Blacklist in the M-series history after reaching the title series in the M3 and M4 World Championships.
