THE BloodThirstyKings from North America caused a massive stir in the Mobile Legends competitive scene by winning against one of the tournament favorites, Blacklist International.
And how did they do the impossible? Their superstar player, Michael "MobaZane" Cosgun revealed an important factor in their victory: Analyzing the team's gameplan centered on shotcaller Johnmar "OhMyV33nus" Villaluna.
“I would say our key to victory was being able to ban the Rafaela and Estes and actually realizing that they do play around V33nus well and also we prioritize the Esmeralda and Beatrix which also really helped us," said the former Arena of Valor player.
He added: "We just study them really hard and pick apart their favorite heroes.”
This was evident throughout the series, as they were able to dissect the movements from Blacklists' signature heroes like Mathilda, Barats, Alice, and Aldous.
MobaZane has respect for Edward
Besides V33nus, there was another player in Blacklist's ranks that caught the attention of MobaZane, Edward "Edward" Jay Dapadap.
He elaborated on his impact during that series:
“(For me it's) Edward because of the way he was able to shut me down especially when he played Barats to the point where I was thinking on banning Barats because he was doing well with him and he never really makes mistakes.”
Yet amid Edward's heroics, the American underdogs managed to overcome the team's efforts, especially in game 4, where they were able to find an opening after securing four massive kills in the 10th minute.
Proving the doubters wrong
Prior to the match, the community considered Blacklist International to be the heavy favorites to win the series.
Cosgun admitted that the community has the right to look down on them.
“You know I think they were right to doubt us because we don’t have nearly as many achievements as Blacklist does and they were just proven wrong," he said.
But still, he also said that he wasn't surprised with the outcome of the match, even with the common stigma centered around the North American MLBB scene.
"Even though our region isn’t specifically one of the strongest in Mobile Legends, we work really hard and train really hard. So I’m not surprised that a lot of fans really wanted Blacklist to win... and I’m not surprised that we won either.”
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph