Echo Philippines emerged as the tournament’s surprise winner in the third all-Philippines grand finals against Blacklist International last night, denying Blacklist the opportunity to win back-to-back Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championship titles.
In addition, Karl “KarlTzy” Gabriel succeeded in fulfilling his goal of becoming the first Filipino player to win the MLBB World Championship with two different teams, making this moment a historical one. He won the M2 with Bren Esports in January 2021.
Two Indonesian teams Onic and RRQ Hoshi, playing on home soil, tried to crash the party but it was too little, too late.
A repeat of MPL Philippines Season 10 Grand Finals
Prior to the grand finals, there wasn’t much of a difference between Blacklist and Echo. Blacklist, who struggled against Falcon Esports and Incendio Supremacy in the group A, showed their true colors in the upper bracket games.
Echo, on the other hand, were nothing short of amazing, as seen in their flawless games in the group C. Unlike the Blacklist players, who seemed to be more expressive and loud, all of Echo players appeared calm and collected after their games.
Blacklist and Echo met each other in the upper bracket final after eliminating every opponent throughout the upper bracket phase, including RRQ Hoshi and Onic.
Even though Echo fought well, Oheb and his Blacklist fellow were on fire that day, as Blacklist sealed a 3-2 victory in the best of 5. The defeat sent Echo down to the lower bracket final and they faced off against RRQ Hoshi.
Echo won the lower bracket final match 3-1, amidst the thumping drums and loud cheers of the 5,000 RRQ Hoshi fans who packed the stadium. This result elevated them to the grand finals to meet the reigning champion once again.
Given the results of their past matchups versus Blacklist, few had expected Echo to win that final game.
But one detail was overlooked, and that was Echo’s head coach, Harold “TicTac” Reyes, who appeared to have an ace up his sleeve. Echo made a significant alteration for the best of seven games, by playing a tankier jungler. Additionally, they banned Estes, OhMyV33NUS’ trademark hero, throughout the games.
Their strategy worked. Even though Oheb started it well with his Harith, the solid teamwork from Echo made it difficult for the Blacklist players to win an objective. Even more impressive was, as they entered the late game, Blacklist only managed to destroy a single turret from Echo. KarlTzy and friends breezed through their rival. The first victory came by a score of 13-4.
What happened next in the second and third rounds were not much different from the opening match.
Even though the availability of Beatrix and Lolita in the second round ,and Karrie in the third round, were supposed to help Blacklist to secure their next games, Echo maintained their cool and never relaxed their guard. They seized every opportunity, calmly and skillfully. The Purple Orca picked up three wins in a row.
As the match point approached, the Blacklist team took a chance by fielding their favorite heroes, including Diggie, Beatrix, and Benedetta.
Even though the final battle was tight due to Oheb and V33NUS’s coordinated attacks, BennyQT, who was supported by the youngster “Sanford” Marin Vinuya’s Gloo, succeeded in keeping the game’s pace. He prevented Blacklist from taking significant objectives. Unable to keep up with the snowballing in the 17th minute, Blacklist conceded and handed the victory to Echo.
At the end the score read 4-0, a major thrashing.
Echo will take home the grand prize of $300,000 USD. The revenge arc was made sweeter because Blacklist had beaten them in the Grand Finals of the MPL Philippines Season 10 in October 2022.
More sweet news for Filipino fans came soon after the finals. Moonton confirmed after the tournament that the 5th World would be held in the Philippines for the first time in December 2023.
For Blacklist, and the rest of the MLBB professional teams, it is back to the drawing board. A new champ is in town and its fortunes are echoing throughout the league.
