ESPORTS

Blacklist hoping to replicate Bren Esports' feat of winning MLBB world title from lower bracket

SINGAPORE—Blacklist International is now a series win away from replicating what fellow Philippine team Bren Esports accomplished during the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang M2 World Championship earlier this year.

In the M2, Bren Esports had to claw its way back from the lower bracket before emerging as the champions.

Bren swept the group stage for an outright upper bracket semifinal round slot, where it faced Burmese Ghouls of Myanmar. Unfortunately, the Filipinos were blanked in that match, 2-0, and were relegated to the lower bracket.

With their sights set on the world title, Bren Esports needed to get past Malaysia's Todak and Indonesia's Alter Ego and RRQ Hoshi. In the grand finals, Bren Esports had a second shot at the Burmese Ghouls, with the Filipinos eventually coming up on top after seven games.

And Blacklist, which has now emerged from the lower bracket to challenge compatriot Onic Philippines, can complete a similar feat if they can make it all the way to the M3 title.

"We are very happy because it seems that we can replicate what Bren did, where they came all the way from the lower bracket to win the title," said Kristoffer "BON CHAN" Ricaplaz following his wards' 3-1 victory over BTK in the lower bracket finals on Saturday.

Similar to Bren, Blacklist swept their group stage matches but surprisingly fell to BTK in the first round of the upper bracket playoff. They had to pull off wins against Onic Esports of Indonesia, Brazil's Keyd Stars, RRQ Hoshi, and home bet Evos SG in the lower bracket.

And they earned some redemption for themselves after triumphing over BTK in a rematch en route to securing their ticket to the grand finals.

"We never expected that we would have to take the long road to the grand finals. We're thankful that we lost to BTK [in the upper bracket] because it really woke us up," added BON CHAN.

Blacklist and Onic Philippines will slug it out in an all-Filipino affair on Sunday, December 19, at 5 p.m.

Regardless of the result, the Philippines will make history as the country will claim back-to-back world championships.

—JMB, GMA News