MANILA, Philippines – Blacklist International found itself relegated to the lower bracket of the Mobile Legends M3 World Championships in Singapore following a shocking loss to North American squad BloodThirstyKings in their upper bracket clash on Saturday, December 11.

Unbeaten going into the playoffs, Blacklist was sent crashing back to earth as BTK gutted out a 3-2 win in their best-of-five duel to advance to the upper bracket semifinals.

Although stunned in the series opener, with BTK cruising to a 16-minute win, Blacklist regained its bearings and nailed a 2-1 lead behind the unique Hylos jungle pick of Danerie James “Wise” del Rosario in Game 2 and a stellar Lunox performance from Kiel “Oheb” Soriano in Game 3.

But BTK knotted the series score at 2-2 and dominated the deciding Game 5 to complete the upset, with Michael “MobaZane” Cosgun (Yi Sun-Shin) starring with 4 kills and 5 assists against 1 death in the rubber match.

To add insult to injury after wiping out Blacklist for a lopsided 12-4 kill score, BTK spammed the recall button on its way to the biggest win for its organization.

Blacklist, the reigning two-time Mobile Legends Professional League (MPL) Philippines champion, will fight for survival in the lower bracket against the winner between MPL Indonesia king Onic Esports and MPL Malaysia titlist Team SMG.

Onic Esports already beat Blacklist for the MPL Invitational title in November, while Team SMG remains a threat despite its lower bracket standing.

BTK will tangle with either Singapore’s EVOS SG or Turkey’s Bedel in the upper bracket semifinals.

Meanwhile, Onic Philippines will try to avoid the lower bracket as it faces Singapore’s RSG on Sunday, December 12. – Rappler.com