Blacklist retakes top spot with epic three-game thriller over RSG Philippines

Blacklist International labored their way through a grueling 32-minute Game 3 encounter to complete a 2-1 reverse sweep of defending champions RSG Philippines to close the first half of  the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League (MPL) Philippines Season 10 on Sunday.

The win was enough for the Tier-One backed squad to emerge on top with 14pts after suffering from back-to-back losses in Week 3.

But not far behind are Onic Philippines (13pts), Omega Esports (13pts) and RSG Philippines (12pts) and Echo (12pts) as the battle for the playoffs heats off in the second half of the season.

Eman “EMANN” Sangco (Beatrix) displayed solid marksmanship early in Game 1, capping off his dominance with a long distance Renner's Apathy on Salik "Hadji" Imam (Edith) during the 7th minute for a 4-1-1 KDA and establishing a 3k gold lead.

But Blacklist punished RSG's 15th minute conceal play with a 4-1 counter to turn the tables around and take control of the match.

Dylan “Light” Catipon (Lolita) though carried his team on his back, starting off with a nifty backline Noumenon Blast set-up during an 18th minute base turret defense then following it up with another a four-man set-up moments later to help RSG tally a crushing 4-0 wipe for the opening win, 1-0.

Blacklist though refused to get swept as they snatched away the Lolita pick in Game 2 and relied on their superior macro strategies to take a 10-minute Game 2 win.

Their macro brilliance came in full-display when they used a conceal play to run after Light (Khufra) and use Hadji's (Faramis) Cult Altar to penetrate deep into RSG's top lane that translated into a 4-0 takedown for the series equalizer, 1-1.

Baclklist looked to have grasped the early game in the decider but RSG survived courtesy of EMANN's (Beatrix) outplays until Blacklist scored a beautiful midlane aggression in the 31st minute to close out the series with a wipeout.

—JMB, GMA News