A pair of Filipino squads posted contrasting victories to book their spots in the upper bracket semifinals of the M4 Mobile Legends World Championship over the weekend at the Tennis Indoor Stadium Senayan in Jakarta.
Blacklist International, a three-time Mobile Legends Professional League Philippines champion, hardly broke a sweat when it scored a 3-1 victory over RRQ Akira of Brazil in the opening match of the Playoffs while ECHO flirted with disaster before overcoming Team HAQ of Malaysia, 3-2.
With the win, Blacklist arranged an upper bracket semifinal duel with RRQ Hoshi of Indonesia on 11 January.
Blacklist skipper Johnmar “OhMyV33nus” Villaluna stressed that they worked hard against the Brazilian side to send a strong statement that they are serious in defending their title.
“We talked about wanting to show how strong Blacklist International is,” OhMyV33nus said.
“We wanted to start strong in the Playoffs to show who we really are. We are really happy and proud to have used Estes because he is the signature hero of Blacklist International. That is proof that we are the defending champions.”
Blacklist head coach Kristoffer Ed “BON CHAN” Ricaplaza, meanwhile, said they will use all the lessons they gained in the Group Stage when they face the Indonesian powerhouse for a spot in the final.
“There are so many learnings in the Group Stage,” BON CHAN noted.
“We made things complicated when we started and then we realized that we have to go back to where it all started.”
Meanwhile, ECHO started strong against Team HAQ, winning the first two games in their best-of-five quarterfinal duel.
But the Malaysians stormed back and won the next two games to move on the verge of pulling off a reverse sweep.
Instead of getting rattled, the Filipino squad banked on the brilliance of 17-year-old Alston “Sanji” Placebo, who ended the series with a 5/1/4 kills, deaths, and assists on Yve en route to emerging as Most Valuable Player in Game 5.
ECHO is set to face reigning MPL Indonesia champion ONIC Esports on 12 January for a chance to make it to the world championship.
