M5 Playoffs: Discipline helps Blacklist triumph over Fire Flux in rematch, secures lower bracket quarterfinals ticket

QUEZON CITY, Philippines – Patience is virtue.

And what makes it possible is discipline that Blacklist International showed to end the road for Turkey's Fire Flux Esports.

The Codebreakers avenged their group stage defeat over the Turkish champion, 3-1, in their best-of-five showdown in the lower bracket (LB) of the M5 World Championship at the EVM Convention Center here on Monday, December 11.

BLCK roamer Renejay "Renejay" Barcase said the lack of discipline in their first meeting with Fire Flux ultimately led to his team getting swept.

READ: Fire Flux Esports shocks Blacklist International, ends M5 group stages as Group B winner

"Nireview po namin yung mga mistakes namin against sa Fire Flux saka sa Onic tapos naapply po namin ngayon. Para sakin yung pinakamali namin dun is yung disiplina namin sa sarili. Mas pinaunlad namin yung disiplina namin ngayon kaya siguro mas maganda yung pinakita namin," Renejay told.

By beating Fire Flux for the third time in four head-to-head encounters, the Tier One-backed squad kept their M5 dream alive a day after falling in the hands of Indonesia's ONIC Esports in a five-game affair.

READ: M5 Playoffs: ONIC Esports sends Blacklist International to lower bracket after five-game thriller

Head coach Master the Basics and his company will face the loser of the AP.Bren and Geek Fam ID match in the LB quarterfinal round on Friday, December 15, as the World Championship moves to the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

Friends outside the Mobile Legends scene, enemies on stage were Blacklist and Fire Flux, whose rivalry began in M4.

That time's Veewise-powered Filipino side met the Turkish crew, still playing for the now disbanded Incendio Supremacy, in the group stages and beat the latter. The two battled each other again in the Mobile Legends Southeast Asia Cup (2023) last June, with Blacklist dominating the then Fire Flux Impunity in the quarterfinals.

READ: Dominant Blacklist International advances to MSC 2023 semifinals at Fire Flux Impunity's expense

It was the third time's the charm for Fire Flux after pulling off the biggest upset of the tournament so farover Blacklist in their Group B faceoff.

In their fourth meeting and second consecutive time in a competition with an LB semifinal berth on the line, BLCK emerged triumphantly in front of a strong Filipino crowd in QC.

Blacklist brought their A-game in the series opener to decimate Fire Flux, 9-2, behind the three kills and three assists of Kenneth "Yue" Tadeo's Valentina, earning him the Most Valuable Player (MVP) nod.

Stephen "Sensui" Castillo dished seven assists and registered a kill with Fredrinn, Edward Jay "Edward" Dapadap and Renejay "Renejay" Barcase combined for 14 assists, and Kiel "Oheb" Soriano did most of the finishing by listing four kills on top of a death and an assist.

Game Two proved to be one-sided, with Fire Flux completely blowing past the Codebreakers to level the scoreline at one-all, thanks to Sidar "Tienzy" Menteşe's 10/0/3 KDA while wielding Leomord.

Also helping him was Emre "Sunshine" Sari's Ixia, who provided three kills and seven assists. Ahmet "Rosa" Batir's Lylia finished with two kills, two deaths, and 10 assists, while Furkan "APEX47" Akbulut's Tigreal tallied 13 assists.

Sensui (Fredrinn) and Renejay (Hilda) both struggled, combining for 11 deaths, while Oheb was the lone bright spot, with his Karrie posting 2/1/3 KDA.

Living on his moniker "Filipino Sniper", Oheb willed Blacklist to a 16-9 bounce back in Game Three with Claude. He had a flawless 7/0/8 outing to get the MVP plum.

For Game Four, Fire Flux picked their signature Leomord while Blacklist chose Akai, Khaleed, and Rafaela as a response. Such drafts spelled the difference for the M3 winner.

Yue's Valentina dealt the final blow, scoring three of his four kills in the 17th-minute lord fight, resulting in a 4-1 trade-off enough for BLCK to avoid a decider. Claiming his second MVP citation, Yue added four assists while just falling once.

With the loss, Fire Flux matched their joint 7th-8th finish as Incendio last January in the previous M-series while bagging 30,000 US dollars.