Defending champion ECHO emerged victorious over fellow heavyweight Blacklist International in the opening day of the Mobile Legends Professional League Season 12 last Friday at the Shooting Gallery Studios in Makati.

ECHO, the M4 Mobile Legends world champion, bested the M3 supremo via 2-0 sweep despite not fielding its team captain Tristan "Yawi" Cabrera in favior of sixth-man Jaypee dela Cruz backed by Karl "KarlTzy" Nepomuceno, Frederic "Bennyqt" Gonzales, Sanford Vinuya and Alston "Sanji" Placibo.

ECHO coach Harold "Tictac" Reyes said it was all part of the plan.

"It was part of our tactics (to play Jaypee and bench Yawi) to surprise not just Blacklist International but the whole league," Tictac said.

"We are not keeping score (on how many times we beat them), the only thing important is we win against Blacklist International."

ECHO's superstar jungler KarlTzy, for his part, pointed out that the current roster of Blacklist lacks chemistry because of the absence of its power duo Johnmar "OhMyV33nus" Villaluna and Danerie James "Wise" del Rosario.

KarlTzy said the team is laser-focused on winning the season in hopes of booking a ticket to the M5 Mobile Legends World Championship which is slated to take place later this year in the Philippines.

"Blacklist International is very different now and they are not accustomed to each other yet (without OhMyV33nus and Wise)," KarlTzy said.

"Even if we won the M4 (world championship) that means nothing now. That is over. We are just focused and we do not think of our opponents."

Blacklist coach Aniel "Master the Basics" Jiandani, meanwhile, said that the team had a good run in training.

He, however, realizes that they are yet to gauge how competing teams would perform and concedes that the team also needs improvement.

"Our biggest takeaway is that even though we had good practice, everything is different on stage. We have to try to improve more," Master the Basics said.