Blacklist International once again finished strong to end Week 3 of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League PH Season 7, defeating rising stars Work Auster Force in an intense 2-1 battle.
Game one was a dominant win for Blacklist International, but games two and three were highly competitive as Work Auster Force seemed to have cracked the code on how to play and counter Blacklist International.
After losing game one, Work Auster Force opened game two by banning the side lane heroes of OHEB and Edward such as Benedetta and Harith. This is the first time we’ve seen this, as every other team has opted to ban the hero pool of Blacklist’s star support, Ohmyv33nus.
Work Auster Force also managed to steal Alice in the pick and ban phase who has been great in the hands of OHEB. As a result, Blacklist International were forced to draft a heavy sustain composition.
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This turned out to be a disaster for Blacklist International as they lost the match in a landslide, 8-20.
Work Auster Force went for a similar strategy in the third game, only this time – they gave up Alice and went for a Harith instead. On the other hand, Blacklist International had a similar lineup except for Edward who locked in a Barats.
Work Auster Force had the upper hand in the early game until the six-minute mark when Chuu and Unravel were caught by members of Blacklist International in the bottom lane, triggering a chain of events that led to Blacklist gaining momentum.
Blacklist International went on to finish the game in just 12 minutes thanks to Edward’s Barats unique yet effective pick and OHEB’s Alice who was the MVP of the game with a 5/2/4 KDA.
While Work Auster Force lost the game, they showed that Blacklist International can be beaten, and they may just have given other teams the blueprint to do it.
After the match, Blacklist head coach BON CHAN commended Work Auster Force for putting up a good fight.
Blacklist International remains on top of Group B with 5-0 while Work Auster Force is second in Group A with 3-2.
READ MORE: What’s the ‘Nice one, Baby’ strategy, and why are so many MPL teams using it?
