Blacklist weathers storm in grueling grand finals to take MPL PH Season 7 crown

Blacklist rose from the ashes, overcoming three match points, to conquer Execration, 4-3, and take the Season 7 championship of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MPL) Philippines on Sunday.

It was the first ever title for the Jhonmar "OhMyV33nus" Villaluna and Danerie "Wise" Rosario duo who are in the finals for the 3rd time in the last four seasons. The new Blacklist acquisitions in the off-season led the turnaround after the team fell behind 1-3 before taking three straight games for the title.

The opening game was a dogfight as the two teams played with discipline but a 12th minute skirmish in the midlane led to a 4-0 wipe courtesy of a Duane "Kelra" Pilllas (Alice) triple kill helped Execration take the upper hand with a lord take as they took down all the opposing inhibitor turrets.

Blacklist fought back with a Luminous Lord steal in the 18th minute but Execration's defensive stand was successful in weathering the comeback, forcing another clash in the midlane at the 20th minute led to a 5-1 for the lead, 1-0.

Game 2 was another nip-and-tuck affair until Execration decided to do send Kiel "Keilvj " Harnandez (Roger) and Kelra (Lunox) in the 8th minute on a bottom lane split push while holding onto the top lane leading to errors on Blacklist's part that resulted into a 4-1 wipe to go up 2-0.

Both teams played a very disciplined Game 3 as they only exchanged a total of 3 kills across 13mins. But Blacklist's macro strategies came into play as they slowly chipped away all the opposing outer turrets while only losing one.

Blacklist needed a 14th minute wipeout to finally barge into the win column, 2-1.

Execration opened Game 4 with hunger by securing the early game objectives to establish a 3k gold lead by the 7th minute, on the back of a 5-2 kill tally.

They held onto the momentum and swept all Blacklist outer turrets by the 11thminute while surrendering to finally reach match point, 3-1.

With their backs against the wall, Blacklist displayed lethal form early on as they led 3-0 on the kill tally by the 4th minute as Danerie "Wise" Rosario (Brody) and Keil "Oheb" Soriano (Harith) easily snowballed translating into a 7-1 kill lead by the 8th minute.

An uncontested Luminous Lord take in the 12th minute helped Blacklist take down inhibitor turrets as they never let Execration get into groove extending the series into a Game 6, 3-2.

And Blacklist is not about to go down as the regular season leaders played with urgency in Game 6, leading 4-1 on the kill tally by the 5th minute to take a huge gold swing. 

Mark "Eson" Gerardo's (Franco) carried the fightback for Blacklist as his Iron Hook plays proved instrumental in the clashes, including three excellent executions in the midlane during the 7th minute crippling Execration's defense with a 4-0 wipe. Blacklist finally equalized in the 10th minute as they forced a do-or-die Game 7.

Blacklist then unleashed the Aldous hypercarry picked in Game 7 as they led from the early game with timely pick offs. Not even a Savage wipeover by Kelra (Lunox) in the 14th minute could stop the rampaging Blacklist as they successfully finished off the series with an 18th minute conquest.

—JMB, GMA News