As Blacklist faces one of their toughest seasons yet, having someone help you keep focus becomes invaluable.
It’s been a rocky season for Blacklist International but this is a position that manager Julius “Banoobs” Mariano is familiar with. Formerly from Minana Esports, an organization that’s no stranger to rough starts, you could say Banoobs is well experienced in keeping his team’s eyes on the prize.
“I always believed that winning is only 50% of the game,” said Banoobs. “Meaning, malalaman mo kung malakas yung team pag nakita mo sila matalo ng matalo. Kasi doon mo nakikita paano sila kumakapit sa mga pangarap nila, yung dedication and sacrifices nila.”
It’s true that many players and coaches say that you learn a lot more from losing. But at some point it becomes difficult to see progress when you’re only faced with losses.
“Doon naging factor yung pagiging lifecoach ko. Madaming away na nadaanan namin, naresolve namin, hanggang we all chose to fight.”
Taking the Heat Off of the Team
At the start of season 14, Banoobs drew the ire of both fans and haters for his rather boastful comments. He has always been an outspoken character and is no stranger taking heat online but the scale has become something much bigger once he joined Blacklist.
“Yung nangyari sa start ng season, it was very loud,” said Banoobs. “Not what I was expecting but dami din na-realize ko dun.”
Fans can be both passionate and voracious and they’ll make themselves heard, for better and for worse. But what may have started as an overstep by Banoobs, he was able to turn that to the benefit of the team.
“Yung players, very concerned sila sakin but I said to them ‘if you guys want to defend me, defend me in-game. Ta-tank ko lahat ng masakit na salita nila, just focus and let the results speak for themselves.’ So nagkaroon kami ng space for the team na hindi sila naba-bash.”
“Ever since the beginning, andaming gusto makita yung Blacklist mag-fail,” continued Banoobs. “So parang in-isolate ko na lang yung mga bashers para maka-focus lang [yung team] sa game. Nag-improve sila every single day hanggang nalabas nila yung best form nila. Ganun lang yung naging mentality namin.”
Now, after an explosive start to the playoffs, Banoobs feels that Blacklist can finally play to their full potential.
“Yung confidence namin, galing yun sa trust. Wala na yung fear factor kasi noco-cover yung fear by confidence and motivation. Di na kami takot matalo kasi we’ve got nothing to lose.”
Banner photo from MOONTON Games.