Blacklist International survives Team SMG to go 2-0 in M5

Blacklist International continued its unbeaten run in the M5 World Championship after cruising to 2-1 victory against Malaysia's Team SMG on Monday at the EVM Convention Center in Quezon City. 

The Codebreakers, who won the M3 edition two years ago, remained atop the team standings of Group B with a clean 2-0 win-loss slate while Team SMG fell to 0-2. 

With the second lord marching at the top lane, Blacklist took advantage by pushing towards the opponent's base with mid laner Kenneth "Yue" Tadeo (Lylia) and jungler Stephen "Sensui" Castillo (Fredrinn) taking down Mikko (Chou) and Saxa (Martis) before the rest of the Codebreakers ultimately finish the job in Game 1. 

Yue continued his fine showing for Blacklist, unleashing a perfect 2/0/7 KDA as they secured the opener while veteran gold laner Kiel "Oheb" Soriano dropped four kills and five assists. 

But Team SMG, which is being led by Filipino coach Paolo "Pao" Villanueva, wreaked havoc in Game 2, pushing to Blacklist's base as the Codebeakers could not unleash their damage with Mikko utilizing the healing ability of his Rafaela pick.

Sasa's (Bruno) triple kill then resulted in a wipeout as they leveled the series to one game apiece.

Blacklist then regrouped and displayed poised in Game 3 as Sensui (Martis) took down Saxa (Guinevere) before winning the third lord dance to steer the Filipinos to the win that lasted for almost 18 minutes. 

Yue claimed the MVP honors in the decider after his Faramis uncorked two kills, including the last on Smooth's X.Borg during the final push, alongside seven assists against one death. 

Blacklist will look to sweep the group stage and formalize its playoff entry on Thursday when it takes on Fire Flux of Turkey.

—JMB, GMA Integrated News