Thanks, fixed. I hate having to use $1 and $2, but forgot that it's required here.

However, the linked node has no bearing on my mistake. The linked node is about the result of list assignment in scalar context, while my mistake was desiring the scalar context behaviour of m//g while calling it in list context.

PS — Mini-Tutorial: Scalar vs List Assignment Operator is much more comprehensive about the behaviour of assignment based on context.