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| Photo from MPL Philippines / Richard Esguerra |
by Drew Malihan
QUEZON CITY - Blacklist International claims their seat in the upper bracket finals as they finally get a win over defending champions ECHO, three games to one, in the MPL Philippines Season 12 playoffs Thursday.
The Agents finally clapped back against the Orcas, with their last series victory of the former dating back to the upper bracket finals match of the M4 World Championships last January 13.
Kenneth "Yue" Tadeo led Blacklist to score first blood against their last season's tormentors, leading his team with 11 kills and six assists with the Valentina while only being taken down twice.
Renejay "Renejay" Barcase have a good game 1 as well with 0/1/18 performance with the Diggie, cancelling crowd controls from Karl "KarlTzy" Nepomuceno's Akai, Sanford "Sanford" Vinuya's Terizla, and Jaypee "Jaypee" dela Cruz's Rafaela, while Benedict "Bennyqt" Gonzales's Claude and Alston "Sanji" Pabico's Faramis were prime targets by Blacklist, combining for 10 of all 21 deaths.
ECHO equalized in the second game, dominating the Agents in 14 minutes, 17 kills to just four, as Sanford's Edith scored four kills and assisting five more, and Sanji's Kadita getting a 6/1/9 performance.
Yue scored all of Blacklist's total kills, which was a maniac performance in the early game with the Valentina, while Kiel "Oheb" Soriano's Wanwan did not have the best of days, not getting any kills or assists while falling down three times.
It was a fire against fire in the third game, including several near wipe outs, but a final clash in the lord pit proved to be fatal for ECHO as Blacklist capitalized on their low HP opponents, with Stephen "Sensui" Castillo's surprise Nolan pick grabbing eight kills and 11 assists.
Oheb's Bruno also had a great game 3 with six kills and seven assists, while counterpart Bennyqt's Irithel scored six kills and six assists as well but did not get the job done.
It was the Filipino Sniper who stepped up in the fourth game as he registered 5/2/5 KDS while Renejay scored 2/0/8 with the roam Novaria as Blacklist wrapped the series with a 12-9 win, despite KarlTzy's Baxia getting more turtle and lord takes.
The Rafaela-Faramis connection still did not work wonders for the Orcas as they only scored a combined two kills while falling down six times.
With the win, Blacklist International will have a sure top-three finish, while ECHO, who are now on a four-game losing skid, will be relegated to the lower bracket semis.
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