JAKARTA, Indonesia – Echo refused to settle for another runner-up finish against Blacklist International.

Echo captured Mobile Legends’ most-coveted crown after dethroning Blacklist International with a 4-0 sweep in the all-Filipino finale of the M4 World Championship at the Tennis Indoor Stadium Senayan here on Sunday, January 15.

Benedict “Bennyqt” Gonzales, Alston “Sanji” Pabico, and Sanford “Sanford” Vinuya all went ham as Echo prevented Blacklist International from becoming the first team in Mobile Legends history to win back-to-back world titles.

It was sweet revenge for Echo after it fell prey to Blacklist International for the Season 10 crown of the Mobile Legends Professional League Philippines in October.

Blacklist International also dropped Echo to the lower bracket in M4 with a come-from-behind 3-2 win in the upper bracket finals two days prior.

Echo, though, proved to be the superior team with the world title on the line as it cruised to an unprecedented sweep to bag the top purse of $300,000 (nearly P16.5 million).

“We’re elated to win the championship, but beating Blacklist International makes it even better,” said Bennyqt, who nailed the Finals MVP honors, in Filipino.

Bennyqt stole the show in Game 2 with a sharp backdoor play that sealed a 2-0 lead for Echo, finishing with 8 kills and 1 assist against 1 death on Brody.

The San-San duo then showed the way in the last two matches as Sanford produced 7 kills and 10 assists against 2 deaths on Lapu-Lapu in Game 3 and Sanji posted 4 kills and 7 assists against 0 deaths on Xavier in Game 4.

While Blacklist International missed out on a history, Echo jungler Karl “KarlTzy” Nepomuceno made one for himself by becoming the first player to win multiple world championships.

KarlTzy led his former team Bren Esports to the M2 title in Singapore two years ago.

“They’re a really strong team. Not a lot of teams beat them. It feels great that we won against them,” said KarlTzy in Filipino.

Echo continued the trend of lower bracket teams going all the way in the world championship just like Bren Esports and Blacklist International did in the past two editions.

To achieve that feat, Echo denied Blacklist International star Johnmar “OhMyV33nus” Villaluna her signature hero Estes by banning it in all four games.

Blacklist International settled for the runner-up prize of $120,000 (nearly P6.6 million). – Rappler.com