M3 World Championships continued today with more elimination series, starting with Blacklist International and Onic Esports.
headline photo courtesy of MLBB Esports
It was a huge surprise in the group stages when Onic Esports, champions of MPL Indonesia Season 8 and the MPL Invitational, dropped into the lower bracket. An even bigger shock happened on the first day of the M3 World Championship playoffs, when Blacklist were defeated by BloodThirstyKings, the North American qualifiers. While Onic were able to survive against Team SMG in their first lower bracket series, now they would have to repeat their MPLi grand final performance to remain in the event.
Onic looked extremely strong in the early period of game one, pushing down the three tier one turrets in no time at all. However, Blacklist were able to hold their own by claiming the first two Turtle objectives – and the third would be where they seemed to find their footing, taking a massive fight to finally take the lead. What followed was an intense back and forth between the two teams, in which Blacklist were eventually able to secure the first win, with OHEB’s Beatrix taking a triple kill at the close.
With their backs against the wall, the Indonesian champions were in dire need of a win, but it seemed as though Blacklist were not going to allow that at all. Winning in every lane right from the start, Blacklist looked back to their lethal best, as they begun to move towards their mid-game UBE playstyle. But this time, it was Onic who were able to find the turnaround as we went into the late game, as they looked to take us to a game three. In a perfect move from SANZ, avoiding a massive Blacklist gank, Onic managed to take a magnificent game two and tie the series.
It came down to one final game between these two giants, with the losing team exiting the M3 World Championships. Blacklist went into the decisive game looking to dominate their opponents, snowballing across the map with objectives. Before 12-minutes had passed, all three inhibitor turrets were gone from Onic’s base, as they were heavily falling behind. There was nothing that the ID squad could do to defend, as Blacklist pummeled their way through their base, taking the final game victory in style.
With that, unfortunately, Onic Esports would be eliminated from the M3 World Championships, as another favourite exits the tournament. For Blacklist, the win means that they get to survive their first day in the lower bracket, with all series now moving to a best-of-five for the PH champions again.
