Blacklist International was almost unrivaled in the opening salvo of the ESL One Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

The Filipino Dota 2 stars went 3-1 against South American team Wawitas Sagazes and China's Azure Ray on Day 1 of the group stages on Monday.

• Dota 2: Blacklist prevails in all-Filipino finals at ESL One Kuala Lumpur qualifiers

Abed Yusop shone in the first game, where he smashed opponents at ease in his Lina using the overpowered LSA-Laguna Blade-Ethereal Blade combination, leading all players with 12 kills.

He also dealt the most hero damage in Game 2 against Wawitas with 26.4k, Sleight of Fisting his enemies around in his Ember Spirit to record an efficient KDA of 10-2-9.

Blacklist also got Game 1 against Azure Ray, where it won a clash in the 43-minute mark to force the GGs off the Chinese – capping it with a Triple Kill on Abed's Lina.

The Chinese squad finally banned Lina and another midlane hero Queen of Pain in the second game and it was successful – they shut down the inefficient dual-Desolator combo of Abed and Raven Fausto to tie the best-of-two series.

The Philippine squad engaged in a skirmish in the bottom neutral camps, where they found themselves in a 4v5 disadvantage after Carlo Manalo died on his Clockwerk.

Abed and Kim Villafuerte "Gabbi" Santos attempted to retreat while using their BKBs, but to no avail, as they conceded more gold to their rivals after multiple deaths.

Blacklist will battle The International 2023 runner-ups Gaimin Gladiators and Europe's Team Secret on Tuesday, December 12, to continue their ESL One Kuala Lumpur run in the groups.

BLACKLIST INTERNATIONAL's ROSTER

Marc Polo Luis "Raven" Fausto
Abed "Abed" Yusop
Kim Villafuerte "Gabbi" Santos
Timothy "TIMS" Randrup
Juan Carlo "Carlo" Chua Manalo