Pinoy Dota 2 star Abed Yusop at ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023. Photo by ESL Dota 2

MANILA – Blacklist Rivalry captain Abed Yusop wasn't worried at all when they dropped to the lower bracket of Riyadh Masters 2024 Southeast Asia closed qualifiers.

Abed, a 23-year-old Dota 2 sensation from Cavite, expressed unwavering confidence on Sunday when asked by casters MLPDotA (Mike Le Phoenix) and johnxfire (John Nathan Fernandez) about getting knocked down by Bleed Esports early in the tilt.

"I wasn't nervous at all because we prepared like for a long time for this tournament and I was very confident personally about our gameplay, game strategy, and our Dota knowledge this time. So I was very confident," said Abed.

READ: Dota 2: Blacklist Rivalry punches ticket to Riyadh Masters 2024

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The five-man Pinoy squad eventually booked a ticket to the main tournament of Riyadh Masters 2024, a $5-million Dota 2 event in the Esports World Cup to be held in Saudi Arabia in July this year.

Blacklist had to complete a reverse sweep against Eljohn "Akashi" Andales and the rest of Talon Esports, 2-1, in the lower bracket finals on Sunday to advance to the main event.

They fell in Game 1 of the series, but just like they did in their campaign, Blacklist bucked their slow start en route to the victory.

READ: Abed, Gabbi to stay with Blacklist Rivalry after 'confrontation'

"I think Game 1, we definitely have the draft advantage, I would say. But I guess we were just feeling the nerves, or we just couldn't read their map movements somehow. So I think we just didn't get to make our own play and then we lost," he said.

The team will be taking a break before preparing for the multi-million dollar tourney, Abed revealed later on in the same interview.

Blacklist is also part of Esports World Cup Foundation's club support program.

It is a project dedicated to "empowering esports clubs to expand their investment across more games, providing impactful career opportunities and competitive support to athletes around the world."