Kuku Talks About His Transition to Support for Blacklist

In a move to boost its fortunes before the start of Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) Tour 3, Blacklist International put its captain Carlo "Kuku" Palad on position five and welcomed region veteran Damien "kpii" Chok into the offlane role. As of now, DPC Southeast Asia (SEA) 2023 Tour 3: Division I has featured the best version of the team yet, and Kuku talked about his transition to position five after the win over Execration. He still regards the change in roles after so many years as an offlaner as a surprise, and while the team has done well so far, Kuku has found it challenging to switch his in-game responsibilities.

Kuku discusses playing position five for Blacklist International

In his post-match winner's interview following Blacklist’s 2-0 win over Execration on Tour 3, Kuku mentioned that he needed to think more about timings now that he wasn't concentrating on hitting creeps.

“Actually I am surprised that I am playing position five. I think it’s just - I need to do more, a lot right now because before I was just hitting creeps and it was actually fun, Now it’s like - I need to keep talking about the timings.”

A smiling Kuku further explained that he views himself as a position 4.5 player instead of a full position five player, adding that he will have some items up his sleeve in the games.

Furthermore, Kuku attributed Blacklist's upward trajectory to the traditional 4-protect-one approach that has so far gained them two wins, and also a loss, against Talon Esports, the strongest team in the region. In general, the entire team has played around carry Marc "Raven" Fausto, with the other two cores focusing on mostly playmaker heroes.

While Talon Esports has already beaten the Blacklist roster, Kuku expressed his desire to play the Bleed Esports roster the most moving forward. “I can say maybe Bleed because I think they look strong right now. I think they are top two or top three and we fought Talon already and lost so maybe giant, let’s see,” he said.

Kuku noted that keeping form in the mid to late game and not giving up early leads will be critical for Blacklist's lineup in winning the series versus Bleed.

The next series for Blacklist in the DPC SEA 2023 Tour 3: Division I will be against XERXIA on 22nd May 2023, with the series versus Bleed slated for 29th May.