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The Mobile Legends Bang Bang M4 World Championship Knockout Day 5 featured a highly anticipated and intense matchup between two top teams, Blacklist International and RRQ Hoshi, in the Upper Bracket Quarterfinals. The defending champions, Blacklist, put on a dominant performance throughout the match and ultimately emerged victorious with a score of 3-2.
Despite a strong showing from RRQ Hoshi, the Indonesian squad was ultimately defeated and relegated to the Lower Bracket. They will now hope to build momentum from the lower bracket if they hope to remain in the tournament.
The first round of the match saw RRQ Hoshi take an early lead with a strong performance from their star player R7. However, Blacklist International quickly evened the score in the next round thanks to a standout performance from OHEB.
The Filipino squad then went on to win the following round, with Wise and OHEB continuing to shine. RRQ Hoshi managed to bounce back and win the fourth round, forcing a tie and as such, a decider round, with pro player VYN registering himself as the top performer in the round.
The decisive fifth round saw Blacklist International come out on top, securing their spot in the Upper Bracket Finals. They will now face the winner of the Onic vs. Echo match, which is set to take place on January 12th.
According to Esports Charts, the match between Blacklist and RRQ Hoshi set a new record for the highest viewership in MLBB history, with over 4.2 million people tuning in to watch the contest. The two teams have a large fan base, and it was the first time they had faced each other in the tournament.
“All the matches have been very exciting, but there was a particular one that caught everyone’s attention. Title holders Blacklist International faced the hometown team of RRQ Hoshi, in a game that shattered the ML:BB esports viewership record. Both teams are title contenders, so fans from across the globe made sure to tune into the match, which achieved an astonishing 4.2 million Peak Viewers,” the data aggregator said.
“With this, M4 World Championship became the most popular ML:BB esports event ever, surpassing the M3 World Championship, which achieved 3.1 million PV. It’s now also the third most popular esports event of all time, with ML:BB now having four events in the top ten, tying League of Legends.”
RRQ Hoshi now faces a must-win match against Falcon Esports, who recently defeated Turkish team Incendio. Esports betting sites like GG.BET pegs Hoshi as favorites to win the fixture with odds set at $1.36 as opposed to Falcon’s odds designated at $3.03. The Indonesian squad will need to win all their remaining matches in order to reach the Grand Finals, as a single loss will eliminate them from the tournament.
As the competition draws to a close, the remaining teams are eagerly competing for the chance to take home the trophy and the $300,000 prize money allotted by the publisher of the esports title, Moonton. Each squad is expected to put their best foot forward in the coming rounds in hopes of claiming victory. The event is being broadcast across multiple platforms, including YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, and TikTok, in multiple languages for fans around the world to follow along.
