By Arvin Migallos

PHOTO: MPL

Omega Esports prove that they are still worthy of the title "18-minute comeback kings" as they decode the defending champions Blacklist International and sends them to the lower bracket in a wire-to-wire series in the Mobile Legends Bang Bang Professional League Philippines Season 8 playoffs, 3-1.

Omega becomes the 2nd team to defeat Blacklist in a series, with Onic being the first.

Game 4 looked like Danerie "Wise" James' Aldous will completely destroy OMG but Duane "Kelra" Pillas' Claude outplayed the former approaching the mid game assisted by Joshua "Ch4knu" Mangilog healing his teammates, which led to his team to win the series.

"Nung regular season lahat ng mga mali namin tinanggal namin ‘pag dating ng playoffs. Yung mga shot call namin saka yung mga comms namin lalong lalo na yung chemistry namin [inayos namin],” said Omega Esports coach Jomie “P4kbet” Abalos.

The series was not entirely dominated by Omega, as they had to recover from the loss in Game 1 with Edward Jay "Edward" Dapdap's Paquito carried Blacklist to a comeback victory, 1-0.

Omega knew what their mistakes in the first game and kept their composure in Game 2 as rookie Dean “Raizen” Sumagui put up a show with his Lancelot to tie up the series, 1-1.

BLCK almost had the match point in Game 3, but Renz "Renzio" Cadua's Faramis countered Mark Jayson "Eson" Gerardo's Gloo and continued to disrupt the former team's positioning, leading to a collapse in the pivotal clash and turning around the game to their favor, 2-1.

Blacklist will try to survive against Nexplay Evos in the lower bracket semifinals on Saturday at 3:00 pm, while their decoders Omega and Onic will clash for a chance to attain the first Finals slot and M3 World Championships slot at 6:00 pm.