By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Philippine-based esports organization ECHO PH finally exacted their revenge on reigning champions Blacklist International after ousting them in the recently concluded Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) M4 World Championship last January 15, 2023.
After losing at the hands of Blacklist three months ago during the MPL PH grand finals and in the upper bracket finals of M4 several days ago, ECHO PH almost accepted their fate as the forever runner-ups of PHL MLBB.
However, the ECHO coaching staff spent their last preparation day studying their potential counters against the unbreakable meta that Blacklist popularized which is the massive map sustain through picking heroes with incredible healing skills and passives.
One thing then stood out and became the clear plan of the MPL PH runner-ups. BAN ESTES. OhMyV33nus’ signature hero that propelled Blacklist’s status as the world’s best MLBB team.
The plan worked perfectly for ECHO as the absence of Estes derailed Blacklist’s signature mid-game snowball and had to rely on other strategies including their Barats jungler pick.
Despite their Barats strategy, their offensive rhythm still failed to connect without their Estes which enabled ECHO to dominate the championship series with a 4-0 sweep.
The win also gave Karl “KarlTzy” Nepomuceno his second MLBB world championship title after winning the M2 series with his old team BREN esports.
KarlTzy was phenomenal against Blacklist’s draft picks in all four games and was able to out-maneuver their backline with ease.
Blacklist showed some signs of life in Game 3 but KarlTzy’s clutch pickoffs denied them of their comeback hopes.
With the victory, ECHO took home the grand prize money pool of $300,000 while runner-up squad Blacklist received $120,000.
