Blacklist International Crushes First Knockout Opponent RRQ Akira in M4

Blacklist International successfully crushed their first knockout opponent RRQ Akira 3-1 in their best-of-5 series at the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang M4 World Championship.

Defending world champion form unleashed ⚫⚪🔴

BLCK takes the series with a 3-1 W!

GGWP, RRQ Akira 🙌#BackToBLCK | #BreakTheCode #M4 pic.twitter.com/WIH3VemKNL

— BLACKLIST INTERNATIONAL 👑 (@BLACKLISTINTL) January 8, 2023

To start the series, Blacklist International took the first two games in a decisive fashion.

In Game 1, sustain is the game and thus Blacklist revived their signature healer meta-strategy with an Estes pick for the queen herself, Jonmar “OhMyV33NUS” Villaluna. They also equipped three Purify spells on OhMyV33NUS, Salic “Hadji” Imam, and Kiel “OHEB” Soriano. From there, they dominated the entire game, starting with an early gank on top that resulted in first blood by Hadji in under a minute. At ten minutes, Blacklist was already hanging out at the base of Akira and eventually ended the game two Lords after in 13:22.

For Game 2, Blacklist became a ticking time bomb that blew away Akira after a long, scrappy battle. During the pick and ban phase, OhMyV33NUS brought out another signature Blacklist hero in Diggie, while Edward “EDWARD” Dapadap debuted Pacquito in M4. Unfortunately, Akira’s diving composition with a Leomord and Gloo presented Blacklist with a tough challenge as the Filipino representatives trailed behind the Brazilians for most of the game. Despite that, Game 2 MVP Hadji’s clutch midgame plays sparked a bit of hope for Blacklist. Eventually, the game ended after Danerie “Wise” Rosario stole the last Lord and proceeded to expose Akira’s base for a last siege, ending the game in eighteen minutes.

Unfortunately, Akira regained its confidence and took Game 3 away from Blacklist International. Tekashi, who used Filipino hero Lapu-Lapu to slay the Filipino representatives, had a fantastic game that earned him the game MVP honors thanks to his 6/1/4 KDA. RRQ Akira also debuted Baxia in M4 at the hands of Lucas “Kiing” Godoy, who went 3/1/6 as he rolled his way for the team’s victory.

Undeterred, Blacklist simply bounced back just in time to end the series at Game 4. They started the game aggressively, with OhMyV33NUS securing first blood on Akira’s Luiz “Luiizz” Alves within just thirty seconds from the start of the game, which was then immediately followed by Hadji’s kill on Kiing shortly after. Meanwhile, EDWARD posted a triple kill despite Blacklist losing the first Turtle fight to Akira. With the game’s momentum in their favor, Blacklist slowly dismantled Akira bit by bit thanks to the healing provided by OhMyV33NUS on Estes and Hadji’s Pharsa.

With their first upper bracket match a success, Blacklist International moves up to the upper bracket semifinals in order to face yet another RRQ squad in RRQ Hoshi. Meanwhile, fellow Filipino representatives ECHO will meet another Indonesian squad in ONIC Indonesia after a successful upper bracket outing of their own.

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