Master the Basics on Blacklist’s first round clash with Onic: ‘Mas pinaaga lang’

Blacklist international head coach Aniel “Master the Basics” Jiandani is moving on from the shock loss to the FireFlux Esports as he and the rest of the team turn their focus to the looming collision with Onic Esports in the first round of M5 World Championship playoffs.

The Codebreakers suffered a tough 2-0 loss at the hands of their Turkish counterparts, denying them the top spot of their group and eventually leading to an early showdown with fellow contender and the Kairi “Kairi” Rayosdelsol-led Onic Esports.

Master the Basics though is unfazed by the highly-anticipated clash, noting that either way, Blacklist would still have to face and beat the stronger teams if it wishes to contend and win the world title back.

“Yung makakatapat naman namin dun, any time soon makakatapat naman talaga namin. Mas pinaaga lang ,” said Master the Basics in the aftermath of the loss that left a huge pro-Blacklist crowd inside the EVM Convention Center in shock.

Blacklist hardly played like the team that was once poised to sweep its group stage assignment, putting up a sloppy performance that was uncharacteristically plagued by errors all-series long

As embarrassing as the loss may be, MTB shared that it could even be a blessing in disguise for Blacklist, noting that it was better for the team to suffer from such lackluster showing in the group stage rather than in the knockout rounds.

More than that, it also gives them the chance to pinpoint and correct their mistakes with still enough time heading into the playoffs.

“Iba talaga yung naging laro namin kanina hindi dapat ganun karami yung maging error. After namin mareview yung games tsaka kami mag dedecide kung ano yung dapat naming gawin,” said MTB.

“Yeah (blessing in disguise) kasi hindi ito nangyari sa pinaka crucial na part ng tournament, lalo na kung finals pa nangyari. At least ngayon di nagmamatter yung loss namin kasi nasa knockout stage pa rin kami, nasa upper bracket pa rin kami,” he added.