The Filipino squad silenced the partisan crowd at the Tennis Indoor Stadium Senayan here after outlasting home bet RRQ Hoshi, 3-2, in their thrilling best-of-five series to inch closer to a second straight world title.
Blacklist squandered a 2-1 lead and saw RRQ force a rubber match but rediscovered its winning ways just in the nick of time, ruling a nip-and-tuck Game 5 on the back of its trademark heroes.
Kiel “Oheb” Soriano showed the way for Blacklist in the decider with a perfect line of 3 kills and 6 assists against 0 deaths on Claude, largely benefitting from the healing prowess of midlane star Johnmar “OhMyV33nus” Villaluna.
OhMyV33nus sustained her teammates throughout the 24-minute match, racking up a game-high 9 assists with 1 kill against 2 deaths with another classic performance on Estes.
“We just stuck to our signature strategies and let them counter,” said Blacklist head coach Kristoffer “Bon Chan” Ricaplaza.
Blacklist will face the winner between fellow Filipino squad Echo and reigning Indonesian champion Onic Esports on Friday, January 13, for a spot in the grand finals.
