The tight competition in MPL PH Season 7 had made the players who are now coaches of Blacklist International want to give up.
Kristoffer “BON CHAN” Ricaplaza had a big role in Blacklist International’s success in winning the title in the Mobile Legends Professional League Philippines (MPL PH) Season 7. However, the journey to win the title was very difficult for the coach.
In the interview after confirming the title to become MPL PH Season 7 champion, BON CHAN admitted that he almost gave up after experiencing many failures in the previous seasons. But lucky for him, he got a lot of support, especially from the organization.
“I’m really at a point where I’m going to stop because I don’t know how this team can win. But the organization managed to motivate us so that now we can become champions,” said BON CHAN.
BON CHAN’s journey in the Mobile Legends scene is quite long. He briefly played for SxC Imbalance in MPL PH Season 2, EVOS PH in Season 3, until it was acquired by Tier One’s Blacklist International.
BON CHAN is a player who has now switched professions to become a coach of Blacklist Int. He also doesn’t deny that he has traveled a long way with his former teammate who is now the sixth player, Dexter “DEX STAR” Alaba, before finally getting the MPL PH title.
“This competition is very important and very challenging because it is very difficult for us to win. When we win, sometimes I watch the replays again so I can feel that we are still winning,” said BON CHAN.
Not only for BON CHAN and DEX STAR who made this title so important, but also for Johnmar “OhMyV33nus” Villaluna and Danerie “Wise” Del Rosario after failing twice in a row in the previous MPL grand finals.
This title is also very important for Mark “ESON” Gerardo to be included in the list of winners of two MPL PH titles, and to appear again in the Mobile Legends Southeast Asia Cup (MSC) 2021 after the last time three years ago.
Blacklist Int’s Journey at MPL PH Season 7
In MPL PH Season 7, the name Blacklist International sticks out thanks to the META “Nice One, Baby” aka “2 Support or Solid”. META is so strong, there are many teams in the Philippines that have adapted it, including from other MPL teams, including Indonesia.
Even some time ago, one of the EVOS Legends players, REKT, admitted that “all Indonesian teams learn META 2 Support from the Blacklist”.
In addition, Blacklist Int also often shows surprising differences, when they show off Aldous Jungle played by Wise and successfully bring victory to his team.
In the regular season, Blacklist Int managed to win Group B with a winning percentage of 92 percent. While in the playoffs, their steps did not stop in the upper bracket from teams like Bren Esports, Aura PH, before overthrowing Execration in the grand final dramatically.
This result makes Blacklist International and Execration as runners-up to represent the Philippines at MSC 2021 on 7-13 June.
They will face teams from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam to take home the title of best in Southeast Asia and the biggest slice of the pie from the US$150,000 prizepool.
READ ALSO: Group phase drawing schedule and list of MSC 2021 participants
