All Possible Timelines for Blacklist International in Week 8
The reigning M series world champions and back-to-back MPL-PH champions find themselves in deep urgency to qualify for the playoffs this MPL-PH S9. After a year of dominance both domestically and overseas, this season has been the lowest point of Blacklist International.
However, their hopes to secure a spot in the playoffs aren’t entirely gone just yet. Here are all the possible routes of Blacklist’s survival through the regular season!
Timeline 1 – BLCK defeats OMG via sweep
Enter Week 8, Day 2 of the regular season. BLCK has their most important match of the entire regular season in front of them. Against them is a familiar foe–the team that they faced in the finals of MPL-PH S7 that went all the way to the 7th game, and the team that took away their chances of a grand slam by taking them down in the finals of MSC 2021.
Similar to Blacklist, Omega Esports also experienced a huge slump this season. They barely survived through games, but they were also able to secure big wins to keep them alive in the clutchest of situations.
Whatever happens in the opening game between Bren and Omega in Week 8, Day 1, OMG still hasn’t secured the playoffs spot. OMG needs to win this match against BLCK.
Regardless of what the situation is for Omega, this route is the simplest for Blacklist. They just have to defeat Omega via sweep to qualify for the playoffs. Lose to Omega for even just a game, then the situation potentially becomes out of Blacklist’s hands.
Timeline 2 – BLCK defeats OMG 2-1
Circumstance A – OMG defeats BREN 2-0
Enter Week 8, Day 2 of the regular season. BLCK has their most important match of the entire regular season in front of them. OMG just defeated BREN 2-0, and BLCK is up by one game against OMG in Day 2.
OMG secures a clutch victory in Game 2 against BLCK, channeling the entire power of the barangay. Securing 3 points via their sweep against BREN in Day 1, that one point that OMG secured against BLCK puts OMG at 17 points, and BLCK at 16 points.
It doesn’t matter if OMG lost the series–they already won the war.
Circumstance B – OMG defeats BREN 2-1
Enter Week 8, Day 2 of the regular season. BLCK has their most important match of the entire regular season in front of them. OMG just defeated BREN 2-1, and BLCK is up by one game against OMG in Day 2.
OMG secures a clutch victory in Game 2 against BLCK, channeling the entire power of the barangay. Securing 2 points against BREN in Day 1, that one point that OMG secured against BLCK puts OMG at 16 points, and BLCK at 16 points. A tie game.
It doesn’t matter if OMG lost the series–they already won the war in Week 4, where they defeated BLCK 2-1. This means every single bit of the victories OMG had on other teams that mattered in BLCK’s fine calculations to the playoffs gave OMG the win over the head-to-head.
Circumstance C – BREN wins the match against OMG
Enter Week 8, Day 2 of the regular season. BLCK has their most important match of the entire regular season in front of them. OMG is fresh out of a loss against BREN.
OMG is sitting at 13 or 14 points at this point. BLCK securing a 2-1 victory would mean OMG will be finishing their regular season at 14 or 15 points, with BLCK sitting atop of their formal rivals at least a point above. After a grueling regular season, the M3 World Champions find themselves in somewhat of a reset–a good amount of time to prepare for the playoffs.
They can potentially make history once again by securing the first three-peat of MPL-PH history.
Timeline 3 – BLCK loses the match against OMG
Enter Week 8, Day 2 of the regular season. BLCK has their most important match of the entire regular season in front of them. Blacklist’s story in the regular season has reached its final match–the one series of games that will define their success or failure.
OMG managed to secure the series. It doesn’t matter if it’s via sweep or a 2-1. Losing to OMG means BLCK is short of at least a point to secure their playoffs slot. In this timeline, OMG isn’t entirely out of the woods yet if they lost against BREN. However if OMG did sweep or win against BREN in Week 8, Day 1, for the first time this season, the odds are on the side of OMG. All they have to do is wait and see how BREN would fare against the rising phoenix army of TNC.
What timeline will we be on this Week 8 of MPL-PH S9? This Week 8, all games matter. There’s no room for error for the remaining 4 teams in the regular season. It’s anybody’s game until the final moments of the game.
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