Blacklist International Open M4 With Victory Against Incendio Supremacy on New Year Opener
Blacklist International opened the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang M4 World Championship with a victory against Turkey’s Incendio Supremacy on the New Year opener in the group stage.
That's how you start the new year 🎉
Our road to go #BackToBLCK starts with a win against Incendio Supremacy!#BackToBLCK | #BreakTheCode pic.twitter.com/yEIYrrtzma
— BLACKLIST INTERNATIONAL 👑 (@BLACKLISTINTL) January 1, 2023
Kills By The Minute
With the match ending in just under thirteen minutes, the 13-10 scoreline was a telltale sign of how both teams managed to kill each other by the minute.
It all started with Danerie James “Wise” Del Rosario’s first blood on Sidar “Tienzy” Menteşe in an early river clash. The next kill came through Wise and Edward “Edward” Jay Dapadap’s successful tower dive on Bariş “Alien” Ali Çakir at the top, which was then immediately followed by a kill across the map on Incendio’s Emre “Sunshine” Sari by the remaining Blacklist trio (with Salic “Hadji” Imam getting the kill). However, the kill on Sunshine came at the cost of Jonmar “OhMyV33NUS” Villaluna’s life as the queen got picked off by Incendio’s Furkan “APEX47” Akbulut and Ahmet “Rosa” Batir.
From there, Edward and Wise tried (and failed) to disrupt Tienzy’s farming on the topside only for them to immediately retreat, with Wise stealing Yu Zhong’s ultimate and turning into a dragon to escape, and Edward succumbing to a 4-man death trap from Incendio. In response to that blunder, Hadji then ambushed Sunshine at the bottom side of the map and swiftly escaped before Incendio can respond.
The next major action came during the second turtle clash where Wise stole the objective from Incendio in exchange for OhMyV33NUS and Edward’s lives.
Incendio Comeback Scare
As the game approached the 7-minute mark, it looked like Incendio was primed and ready for a comeback. They managed to delete the Blacklist trio of Hadji, Edward, and Kiel “Oheb” Soriano and secure the game’s final turtle. From there, both teams simply readied themselves for the first Lord of the game.
Prior to the first Lord attempt, Blacklist successfully ambushed Alien deep in the bottom side of the map near Incendio’s base turret, with Hadji getting the kill for himself. This prompted Incendio to change directions and try to rotate to where Blacklist were, and this gave an ample amount of time for the Filipino representatives to secure a much better position for the Lord to take.
During the ensuing Lord dance, Blacklist took down both Tienzy and Alien along with the Lord. Securing the Lord opened up the map and Blacklist proceeded to clear the way for victory. However, it looked like Incendio was able to successfully defend and stave off Blacklist’s assault up until they were baited to kill OhMyV33NUS at mid. Eventually, after the death of their queen, Blacklist went for Incendio’s throats and massacred them one by one, eventually ending the game with a few seconds to spare for the 13-minute mark.
After the game, Wise was hailed as the game’s MVP, going deathless on his ultimate utility jungler Valentina with a 3/0/6 KDA.
The defending champions will have a day to rest before going back to the Land of Dawn to face Burn x Flash of Cambodia and Falcon Esports of Myanmar on January 3, 2023.
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