Familiar names have once again crossed paths for the first time in the tenth season of the MPL. Will the new faces of ONIC PH live up to the organization’s legacy as the El Classico against Blacklist International begins! 

Game #1 opened with Onic stealing the Akai from the side of Blacklist International, alongside grabbing Faramis and Paquito in the first phase after banning some power picks of the queen and Oheb's famous Beatrix. On the other hand, Blacklist snatches the Valentina and the reliable Esmeralda in the hands of Edward. Onic then banned more heroes of Ohmyv33nus without hesitation and grabbed the Bruno and the Atlas hoping to counter the famous UBE strategy. Blacklist, however, drafted the Balmond for relaible objective taking and the queen's signature Rafaela. 

Onic PH was very dominant during the early game, picking off Hadji a few times and controling the first few objectives and skirmishes with exquisite synergy by the Fatal Links, Cult Altar and Heavy Spin combination to have an edge over the M3 world champions. It was evident that Blacklist had no immediate answer to Onic at this time, however Oheb was able to scale just in time during the midgame to help in counter-initiating and equalizing the gold lead. The map was owned by Onic at the 12th minute of the game, however Blacklist was able to get crucial pickoffs onto Nets and Rapidoot, enabling the Agents to secure the enhanced Lord to equalize the map. Blacklist International was able to keep up with Onic in terms of teamfights and Lord fights, but an incredible backdoor play by Nets' Bruno was able to tear down their opponents' base just in time before Edward and Hadji responded. 

Onic PH secured Game #1 against Blacklist International, match point against the defending world champions.

The second game was no different in terms of picks and bans in the first phase. However, Blacklist decided to ban the Paquito who was a nuisance from the previous game. With this, Onic drafted an Irithel instead of Bruno, and Dyrroth to equalize with Esmeralda. Blacklist seemed unfazed in the drafting phase as they stuck with the same hero lineup. 

Early game was no different as Onic PH secured the first blood and first turtle, however Blacklist has learned and has become more composed as response to the aggression by the rookie team. Although Onic PH maintained their aggressive macro gameplay, it seemed like Blacklist was able to adjust and retaliate and answer back. Both teams were very patient and disciplined as both of them juggled around the Lord for a solid 2 minutes, probably the longest Lord dance yet in this regular season. Blacklist, an experienced team when it comes to patient Lord taking, was able to snatch the first Lord thanks to Wise's clutch Retribution. Lord dances made majority of the late game, as the second Lord dance lasted for about the same duration, however a wonderful conceal play from Onic PH led to a crucial pickoff onto the queen, eventually securing the lord and snowballing the game until the super rookies found Blacklist's base, resulting in an unbelievable upset against the Agents.

The rookies of Onic PH did not come to just play, as they sweep Blacklist royalty 2-0.

GAME 1 (17:30) - ONIC 14 (W); BLCK 19 (L)

GAME 2 (20:36) - ONIC 14 (W); BLCK 5 (L)

GAME MVPs