One final series remained for the penultimate day of M3, as we looked to the lower bracket finals between Blacklist International and BloodThirstyKings.
When we first saw these two teams metting one another, on Day 1 of the M3 World Championship playoffs, BloodThirstyKings shocked the entire world by breaking the code and sending Blacklist International down to the lower bracket. Since then, BTK have also assaulted EVOS SG, but were unable to find any impact against Onic PH. Now, Blacklist would need to refine the code if they wanted to set up an all-Philippines grand final.
BTK went into the first game looking as strong as they did in the first meeting of the two teams, winning every lane and claiming some much needed early pickoffs. However, the experience and UBE strategy of the MPL PH champions begun to show, as they slowed the game down completely and begun to mount their comeback. While the NA squad were definitely causing some major problems for Blacklist, it was not enough to take game one, but it was a best-of-five, and anything could happen.
It was a completely different game two, as Blacklist seemed to have worked out exactly how BTK worked and used that to take control. Although Blacklist definitely were able to capitalise on some errors from the PH squad, it was not enough to really take control of the game, as OHEB and Wise peppered them with bullets from Beatrix and Kimmy, respectively.
As they were facing possible elimination, BTK seemed to look to use the Blacklist heroes against them, grabbing the Beatrix and Chou away – while also drafting a Roger for MobaZane. While Blacklist had a solid lineup too, BTK seemed to have finally picked their moment to shine, as they took some massive fights to find a solid lead. The game definitely turned into chaos, with the two teams taking alternating fights constantly. However, something had definitely awoken in the NA squad, as they managed to take a fantastic victory and possibly begin their comeback.
It was once again the BTK squad who were taking control in the next game, even with Wise on Aldous – a MobaZane Saber would come out to fight against it. Blacklist were making some huge errors in their engages and BTK were more than happy to punish them at every turn. As the game progressed, while Blacklist made a comeback, BTK were ready to fight at every turn. However, one mistake from the NA team was more than enough for Blacklist to turn the game around completely and take the victory.
With that, BTK would unfortunately be eliminated in third place after an absolutely magnificent M3 run. For Blacklist, their win means that we have an all-PH grand final set up at M3, and tomorrow we will find our champions.
