Blacklist International booked an impressive victory over ECHO to win its third Mobile Legends Professional League Season 10 Sunday at the Blue Leaf Cosmopolitan in Quezon City.
Bannered by the power duo of Johnmar “OhMyV33nus” Villaluna and Danerie James “Wise” del Rosario, Blacklist delivered a knockout 4-2 blow over “super team” ECHO in the grand finals of the Playoffs.
It was such a sweet victory for Blacklist as it emerged as back-to-back MPL champion before relinquishing its throne in Season 9 after OhMyV33nus and Wise sought for a breather.
Now, Blacklist is back at full strength with OhMyV33nus and Wise drawing significant support from teammates Edward Jay “EDWARD” Dapadap, Kiel Calvin “OHEB” Soriano, and Salic “Haji” Imam to battle back from a 1-2 deficit en route to reclaiming the title.
“It was a headache when we were down by 1-2. Perhaps our mental fortitude is high so despite being down we were composed,” OhMyV33nus said.
“For me, one of the biggest reasons why we managed to make a comeback in Game 4 was that thing that only Wise saw, and that was to pick Benedetta and sacrifice his hero.”
OhMyV33nus said their sacrifices paid off.
“In all our preparations we have always planned to pick Wise’s hero but that time he told us to pick Edward’s hero and sacrifice his own,” he said.
“It was a vital sacrifice which was why we became a champion because it allowed us to gain momentum.”
Blacklist’s latest exploit was also the first in MPL history as it became the first team to win the championship thrice.
Experience laner Edward, meanwhile, received the finals Most Valuable Player citation for his epic plays throughout their series against ECHO.
“I expected Wise to be the MVP (Most Valuable Player) so all of the main five would be MVP. I did not expect this at all,” said Edward, who averaged two kills per game, 6.33 assists, and 5.00 KDA in the finals.
Blacklist head coach Kristoffer “BON CHAN” Ricaplaza, on the other hand, conceded that Season 10 was the toughest championship that they won so far even with the help of the V33Wise duo coming off a season break.
t season ten is the hardest championship we won. Like we always say, all the teams have stepped and everybody leveled up their standards,” BON CHAN stressed.
“Like what boss Tryke (Tier One CEO) said, everybody became Blacklist. We needed to exceed our limits to beat our fellow Blacklists and that has become the standard in season ten. It was so hard.”
It was also on the very same day that Blacklist was crowned as three-time champion when the MPL committee unveiled its first eleven entrants to its Hall of Legends.
Aside from the V33Wise duo, also making the distinguished list are Joshua “Ch4knu” Mangilog, Setsuna “Akosi Dogie” Ignacio, Karl “KarlTzy” Nepomuceno, Angelo Kyle “Pheww” Arcangel, Jeniel “Yellyhaze” Bata-Anon, Carlito “Ribo” Ribo Jr., Brian “Panda” Lim, Christian “Rafflesia” Fajura and caster Manjean Faldas.