Blacklist International |
by Drew Malihan
MANILA - Blacklist International's record remained unblemished as they withstand an Echo Philippines fightback in three games to end their Week 2 campaign of MPL Philippines Season 8.
Echo, almost winning the series with a Hadess masterclass with the Lancelot in Games 2 and 3, failed to end the game in their favor as the defending champs claimed the series with their comforts.
Echo pick the signature Aldous and the Mathilda of Blacklist along with a gold lane Alice, while the champions chose Paquito for Edward along with a jungle Kimmy and a support Kaja.
With Echo targeting Oheb's Beatrix, Blacklist answers back as they went to claim the first two turtles, the latter one costed three Echo heroes as only Jaymeister's Mathilda and and KurtTzy's X.Borg remained.
An OhMyV33nus Divine Judgnet from his Kaja in the bottom lane and an Oheb ultimate costed Jaymeister and shuts down Bennyqt's Alice before Rk3 shuts down Oheb.
With the Echo lord take favors in the hands of Hadess' Aldous, but an Edward-led initiation forced them to retreat at the expense of all Echo except Hadess.
From there, it was all Blacklist who won the next few team fights, dispersing the Echo team up with their own, taking the lord, and the win despite fightbacks from the base, with Wise's Kimmy ended the first game with a 8/4/11 KDA while Edward registered 7/1/13.
Echo chose a more sustain lineup of Paquito and Alice with a signature Grock from Jaymeister, while Blacklist went to a Carmilla support, a jungle X.Borg, and a gold lane Hayabusa.
The former Aura side gave Blacklist problems as they dominated the early game with seven kills in six minutes, including two pickoffs to Wise.
Blacklist tried to fight back with a split maneuver by Oheb, but Hadess showed a masterclass with his Lancelot, even resulting in a shutdown with all five Blacklist members.
From there, it was the Hadess show as he wasted no time and slain all the remaining heroes of Blacklist while KurtTzy drove HhMyV33nus away from the team fight giving Echo a win in less than 12 minutes.
Hadess registered a 12/0/4 KDA to force the third game, while only two kills each from Bennyqt's Alice and Jaymeister were the only kills from Blacklist.
Echo went to the same four except for the Bennyqt Harith, while Blacklist went to a tank Popol and Kupa, a side lane Martis, and a signature Wise core Aldous.
Echo dominated the early to mid game, getting important kills and objectives including a play from Hadess' Lancelot and Rk3's Pharsa that indirectly wiped out all Blacklist members.
However, Blacklist bounced back instantly, cornering KurtTzy's Paquito with a three-to-one fight and pushing the top lane up to the second turret.
Echo found their backs in the wall with only Hadess and KurtTzy remaining to take the defensive stand successfully as they eliminate all minions.
However, Blacklist, coming from a losing team fight near the lord pit, engaged in another clash, wiping all but KurtTzy to claim the 2-1 victory. Edward's Benedetta led Blacklist with a 6/1/1 KDA while Oheb's Alice registered a 5/2/4 for the defending champs.
Blacklist will try to extend their streak to five wins as they will go against a struggling Bren Esports while Echo will try to bounce back once more against another struggling team in Nexplay Evos, both on Sunday.
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