Blacklist International reveal new Dota 2 roster with Abed, Gabbi, and Carlo

Renown Filipino esports organisation Blacklist International made a big splash on Friday (10 November) by revealing its new all-Filipino Dota 2 roster for the upcoming season will feature Abed "Abed" Yusop, Kim "Gabbi" Santos, and Carlo "Carlo" Manalo.

Abed and Gabbi notably return to playing for a Filipino team after separate stints in the West.

Abed, who has garnered a reputation as one of the best midlaners in the world, had been playing in North America since 2019. Abed served as the midlaner for the premier North American Dota 2 stack under the banners of Evil Geniuses (EG) and Shopify Rebellion that also featured the likes of Artour "Arteezy" Babaev, Andreas "Cr1t-" Nielsen, and Tal "Fly" Aizik, among others.

After Shopify Rebellion bombed out of The International (TI) 2023 in 13th-16th place, Abed left the team alongside Cr1t and Fly earlier this week.

Meanwhile, Gabbi had a short stint in Western Europe with Entity from July to November, switching from the carry to the offlane role in the process. He helped the team qualify for TI 2023 and finish in 9th-12th place, notably knocking out defending champions Tundra Esports in the process.

Carlo, who had previously played under the tag 'Bdz', last played for Execration from December 2022 to July this year and helped the team become one of the most dominant squads in the now-defunct Dota Pro Circuit's Southeast Asian regional league.

Rounding out Blacklist's roster heading into the new season are returning players Marc Polo "Raven" Fausto and Timothy "Tims" Randrup.

Blacklist's roster revamp comes after a rough first year for the organisation in Dota 2.

There was a lot of hype surrounding Blacklist to start the 2023 Dota Pro Circuit season, as its initial roster was a squad of Filipino veterans in Raven, Karl "Karl" Baldovino, Carlo "Kuku" Palad, Tims, and Nico "eyyou" Barcelon.

In an interview with Yahoo Esports SEA last December, Tims said Blacklist's biggest goal was to "represent the Philippines" in Dota 2's biggest stage at TI. However, the team failed to live up to such lofty expectations.

They had a good start to the Winter Tour regional league but collapsed on the final day of competition, missing out on the Lima Major as a result.

In the Spring Tour, Blacklist retooled with the addition of Michael "ninjaboogie" Ross as coach. However, the team only managed a 3-4 record in Spring Tour regional league and thus failed to even sniff a spot at the ESL One Berlin Major 2023.

Those disappointing results prompted the departure of eyyou in April, with the team announcing they will also take "a new direction" away from their original plan to field a full Filipino roster. That shift in direction came in the form of Australian veteran Damien "kpii" Chok, who took over as offlaner while Kuku shifted to the position 5 support role previously vacated by eyyou.

The addition of kpii helped Blacklist bounce back during the Summer Tour regional league and qualify for the Bali Major.

However, the team faltered against international competition and bombed out of the final Major of the season in 13th-14th place, which also meant they missed out on a direct invite to TI 2023 and will have to earn their spot in the tournament through the regional qualifiers.

With the all-important spot at TI 2023 up for grabs, Blacklist also beefed up its roster by signing Adam "343" Shah and Kenny "Xepher" Deo as head coach and assistant coach, respectively.

While Blacklist managed to reach the grand finals of the Southeast Asian regional qualifier, they were soundly defeated by Team SMG and missed out on TI 2023 as a result.

Following their disappointing season, Blacklist cleaned house by parting ways with Karl, kpii, and Xepher in early October followed by Kuku and 343 earlier this month.

Blacklist will be looking to bounce back with its new star-studded roster headlined by the signings of Abed and Gabbi, even branding squad as the 'Redeem Team 2.0'.

Blacklist's new roster is set to make its debut later this month in the Southeast Asian qualifier for ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023, which will be the last big Dota 2 tournament of the year in December and features a US$1 million prize pool.

Blacklist International Dota 2 roster:

1. Marc Polo "Raven" Fausto

2. Abed "Abed" Yusop

3. Kim "Gabbi" Santos

4. Timothy "Tims" Randrup

5. Carlo "Carlo" Manalo.

For more esports news updates, visit https://yhoo.it/YahooEsportsSEA and check out Yahoo Esports Southeast Asia’s Facebook page and Twitter, as well as our Gaming channel on YouTube.