Cover-Credits:
As the first part of the 2024 competitive season winds down and teams prepare for the next series of tournaments, roster changes have begun to occur. Blacklist International has revealed adjustments to its roster, welcoming Jinn “Palos” Marrey P. Lamatao as the new carry, along with the surprising inclusion of Romel “Mzs” Quinteros Rojas considering he hails from South America. Mzs takes the place of Carlo "Carlo" Manalo who is moved to the inactive lineup. The roster switch comes just days before the Elite League: Southeast Asia Closed Qualifier, a crucial qualifier for the team since it has not competed in a tier one tournament in the year yet.
Blacklist adds Palos and Mzs to its Dota 2 roster
“After a successful trial run on loan, we would like to officially welcome Palos to the main roster. We look forward to running our upcoming tournaments with him at our Position 1,” Blacklist announced on its social media platforms, followed by the revelation of Mzs joining the team.
Blacklist's Dota 2 roster now includes the following players who are coached by Kim “DuBu” Doo-young.
Jinn “Palos” Marrey P. Lamatao
Abed “Abed” Yusop
Kim “Gabbi” Villafuerte Santos
Timothy “TIMS” Randrup
Romel “Mzs” Quinteros Rojas
Having competed at the stand-in during ESL One Birmingham 2024: Southeast Asia Closed Qualifier in January 2024, Palos joins the squad as a full member. While he replaced Polo "Raven" Fausto, the team's overall results didn't improve, as it failed to qualify for the main event, having also been unsuccessful at the qualifiers for BetBoom Dacha and DreamLeague previously.
While this move was expected following the stand-in stint, Carlo's replacement with Mzs comes as a bigger surprise.
Mzs joined a team that has four Filipino players, despite spending his entire career in South America. Such region relocations are rare and therefore, effective communication will be crucial in shaping the decision's outcome, as he will be required to actively coordinate with Palos in the safelane right from the start.
On the surface, Blacklist's overall composition indicates a lot of uncertainty and promise. It will be important to watch the players perform together as a team despite all of them having shown top individual skill in the past.
The team plays in the Southeast Asian qualifiers for Elite League, beginning on 14th March, where a total of eight teams will compete for two spots for the main event.
