Aurora, Blacklist International oust foes to complete MPL S14 Final Four cast

Aurora and Blacklist International gutted out massive victories in the knockout play-in round to advance to the playoff round of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League (MPL) Season 14 on Wednesday at the Green Sun Hotel. 

Fourth-seeded Aurora pulled off a major upset, dethroning Team Liquid Philippines (formerly Echo) with a 3-2 victory while Blacklist swept Smart Omega, 3-0, as both squads clinched a Final Four ticket. 

Aurora and Blacklist will now face Fnatic ONIC Philippines and Falcons AP Bren, respectively, later today in the upper bracket. 

Aurora had the chance to seal it in four games, but Team Liquid showed its championship poise in Game 4 behind the spotless KDA from Alston "Sanji" Pabico (Luo Yi), who dropped one kill and eight assists to star in their 9-3 rampage, as the reigning champions dragged Aurora to do-or-die Game 5. 

However, Aurora regrouped in the decider, showing the door to Team Liquid in just 14 minutes with seasoned exp laner Edward "Edward" Dapadap leading the way with 3/0/3 KDA on his Terizla. 

In the first game, the troika of Jhon Marl “Lord JM” Sebastian, Michael “MP the King” Endino, and Salic "Hadji" Imam joined forces as the Codebreakers eliminated the third-seeded Omega. 

Blacklist will take on reigning world champion Falcons AP Bren in another best-of-five series at 3 p.m. with the winner advancing to the upper bracket finals. 

Aurora will also look to pull off another improbable upset when it squares off with top seed Fnatic Onic Philippines, who has only dropped one game in this season so far, in their 7 p.m. tussle. 

—JKC, GMA Integrated News