WITH BLACKLIST INTERNATIONAL joining the Dota 2 scene, fans have wondered how their kit would look like.
Would Quiccs and Egg Fiasco once again do the design? Will the design feature some futuristic esports vibe?
But in a press conference presenting the new team, Tier One Entertainment CEO Tryke Gutierrez revealed the final look of their Dota 2 kit.
While its MLBB counterpart has elements of tech wear, the Blacklist Dota 2 jerseys feature a minimalist design with a dash of nostalgia.
How the Blacklist Dota 2 jersey was made
Gutierrez owned up to its similarities to the jersey of another esports organization, especially because of the orange accents.
"Just to share you some of the brainstorming that happened in this jersey, of course there were a lot of comments like what color, ano yung dapat na design, ano dapat yung look and all of that," started Gutierrez.
"When we designed this first, the initial feed was, 'This looks like TNC' (laughs) because Rivalry is color orange e..."
Both Blacklist International and Rivalry formed a joint partnership, and the latter's signature orange colors were highlighted in the jersey. But instead of making changes, Tier One decided to stick with it, in honor of one of the bastions of Philippine Dota.
"Tapos that's when I thought, 'You know what? Let's embrace that. Let's make this look like TNC. It's fine because we're not here and tell you all that we build a whole new team, in fact this is a team that we're building on from that TNC foundation, the OG team before."
With Blacklist's roster consisting of players from the original TNC squad that produced the iconic Miracle of TI6, paving the way for the Philippines to be recognized in the global Dota 2 scene, it made sense for Blacklist Rivalry to uphold TNC's legacy.
"The binary code below the Rivalry word is a binary code that means Phoenix. So it's our way of paying tribute to that team before and hopefully we can build unto that by adding Karl (Baldovino), by adding our management capabilities into this as well."
But for Blacklist to rise above vintage TNC's ashes, the org needs to deliver the best results.
"I mean at the end of the day, all of these individuals are very decorated players. We don't know what's going to happen at the end of the day but I really hope that we have a huge chance to win but there's a lot of work that needs to be done," Gutierrez reflected.
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