In the inaugural Upper Bracket semi-final of the Eternal Derby between Indonesia and the Philippines, RRQ Hoshi faces Blacklist International. The home fans erupted when RRQ Hoshi claimed the first victory in a thrilling, hotly contested first match. The defending champions fought back in overwhelming manner, capturing all objectives, amassing a gold advantage of over 10,000, and finishing the game in less than 13 minutes to square the series at 1-1.
In game 3, Blacklist dominated again, opening a 10k gold lead, with the V33Wise duo putting in an exceptional performance getting a combined 32 assists in the match. With this win, the Filipinos are at match point and within touching distance of the Upper Bracket final. But RRQ Hoshi would not give up the series that easily; through an inspired performance from MVP Vyn, the Indonesians tied the series and took it to game 5.
In a match worthy of the Eternal Derby, the game was as close as it gets; both teams constantly traded blows but also not overextending, being cautious not to lose. In the end, RRQ Hoshi’s defence got overwhelmed in a 2v5 situation, and Blacklist International got the win and a spot in the Upper Bracket finals.
In the Lower Bracket, it was a rematch from the group stage between Falcon Esports and Incendio Supremacy. The first game resulted in a relatively straightforward win for Falcon Esports, with the Turkish team not being able to find space to exploit. Soon after the Burmese team took the second Lord, they pushed on for the win. It was a much-improved performance by Incendio in the second game, as they got off the mark with a win to tie the series. In a close third game, Incendio carried their momentum and confidence into the third game and got the victory to put them on match point.
The Falcons struck back in game 4, as MVP Jungler Kenn inspired his team to victory to force game 5 with a 7/0/4 K/D/A, 820 GPM, and 92.5% KP. Falcon Esports continued their hot form from the previous game with a dominant start to game 5. By the 14-minute mark, Falcon opened up a 10k gold lead and downed the Turkish team’s base turrets. With the help of their third Lord, Falcon took the game and moved on to the Lower Bracket Quarterfinals, facing RRQ Hoshi next.
The Knockout Stage continues tomorrow with another Upper Bracket match alongside the next round of Lower Bracket match in a best-of-five (BO5) match series. According to Esports Charts, day five of the M4 World Championship Knockouts reached the 4.26m mark of peak-concurrent viewership.
