Blacklist International wins Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championship 2021 (M3)

Blacklist International crowned champions of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championship 2021 (M3)
Blacklist International crowned champions of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championship 2021 (M3)

The third edition of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championship (M3) is over. Blacklist International from the Philippines has been crowned the ultimate champion. They defeated ONIC Philippines with a straight-set 4-0 victory in a best-of-seven round.

Blacklist International's path to the finals was not as simple as it appears. After topping their group, they suffered a close defeat against North American champs BloodThirstyKings in the upper bracket quarterfinals.

The defeat relegated them to the lower bracket round where they were up against Indonesian champions ONIC Philippines. They knocked out the Indo champs with a 2-1 scoreline. In the next round, they comfortably defeated Brazilian runners-up squad Keyd Stars with a 3-0 scoreline.

Oheb was named as the MVP of the Grand Finals and awarded $10k in prize money.


Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championship (M3) playoffs

Results of Mobile Legends World Championship 2021 (M3) playoffs (Image via MLBB)
Results of Mobile Legends World Championship 2021 (M3) playoffs (Image via MLBB)

The quarterfinals pitted them against seasoned squad RRQ Hoshi, who finished on the podium in the first two seasons of the World Championship. They were no match for Blacklist, though, and were crushed in straight sets.

In the semifinals, they effortlessly and convincingly defeated EVOS Singapore.

They faced BloodThirstyKings again in the lower-bracket finals (the team that defeated them in the upper-bracket quarter-finals). This time, they worked on their flaws and won by a score of 3-1.

The finals were against their native team ONIC Philippines, who had been unbeaten in knockouts up to this point. However, fans witnessed a re-enactment of the MPL Philippines Season 8 Finals, in which Blacklist beat ONIC easily once more.


Mobile Legends Bang Bang World Championship prizepool

The tournament had an $800,000 prize fund and was contested in the offline format in Singapore. The winner, Blacklist International, won $300,000, while runner-up ONIC Philippines received $120,000. BloodThirstyKings, the second runner-up, received $80K while Evos Singapore took home $55K.

Blacklist announced that they will contribute a percentage of their winnings to victims of Typhoon Rai, which has killed over 140 people so far.