By Ernesto Nodado III
PHOTO: Tiebreaker Times

Blacklist International spared no mercy for their foes, mauling Nexplay Evos with a 4-1 domination to claim their spot as the new Sibol lineup in the Sibol Qualifier finals, Sunday evening.

The M3 titlists showcased their prowess all-game long, featuring their famous ‘Ultimate Bonding Experience’ (UBE) strategy to leave Nexplay unanswered for four games en route to becoming the country’s representative in the Southeast Asian Games.

The freshly-appointed Sibol MLBB lineup is fielded by the championship mid-lane trio of Johnmar ‘OhMyV33nus’ Villaluna, Danerie James ‘Wise’ Del Rosario, and Salic ‘Hadji’ Imam.

Meanwhile, Kyle ‘Dominic’ Soto and Lee Howard ‘Owl’ Gonzales will complete the national squad after filling the gaps of MVP side-laners Kiel “OHEB” Soriano and Edward “Edward” Dapadap, who were both impeded due to age restrictions.

“Nagdouble effort kami para mapunan ang pagkawala ng dalawa [Edward and Oheb]. Kaya shoutout kina Owl and Dominic,” team captain ‘OhMyV33nus’ on the team's challenges towards the national team selection qualifiers.

Blacklist set the pace of the series with a 2-0 lead behind Hadji’s stellar performances on the Yve and Lunox in the first two games, proving to be an unanswerable dilemma for Nexplay.

However, Nexplay tamed BLCK’s early dominance after Cadenza’s Khufra’s clutch concussive blast emblem passive to steal the lord and avoid a disastrous match point, 2-1.

Blacklist’s draft in Game 4 shut down Cadenza from another flashy play with superb map vision via Wise’s Yi Sun-Shin and OhMyV33nus’ Popol and Kupa, and took a clinical approach on objectives and team fights, propelling them closer as the new Sibol squad, 3-1.

In Game 5, Blacklist’s typical comfort picks, especially the V33Wise’ deadly Barats-Rafaela combination, overpowered the squishy Nexplay lineup, which couldn’t catch up during team fights against the almighty UBE strategy.

From thereon, all Blacklist had to do was to maintain their avalanche-like momentum to finally book their names as PH’s SEA Games MLBB representatives.

Nexplay Evos, despite the loss, proved that they are still a force to be reckoned with in the fast-approaching MPL Season 9 on February 18 despite the departure of their star roamer, Tristan ‘Yawi’ Cabrera.

Sibol PH will carry on to defend the country’s first gold medal in the MLBB event of the 31st biennial meet in Hanoi, Vietnam this upcoming May.


Edited by Jostle Doen Pilayre