WITH ONLY SIX MONTHS of prep time, Blacklist International entered into the Honor of Kings Championship 2024 with very low expectations.
The Codebreakers only started grinding and forging an HOK team, while the rest of their rivals had years of experience competing.
Yet despite their underdog status, Blacklist made waves in their very first international tournament.
Who would've thought that this newly forged team was capable of sending one of the powerhouses in the region, Team Secret, down the lower bracket. Were they destined to win it all?
Sadly the Codebreakers' journey ends, finishing 5th-6th overall, as they suffered a disastrous sweep against Nova Esports.
But at the end of the day, the team brimmed themselves with pride and honor as they defied expectations.
"This is our first tournament in HOK, in the international stage and I'm so proud of them (Blacklist International) because out of the 16 teams, we're at the top 6," reflected head coach Gerald "Tgee" Gelacio.
He added: "We played for only 6 months in HOK so we're a very new team. Malaysian teams are so strong, they played fierce. Maybe in the future we can beat them."
What's next...
While this result is a momentous step for the Philippines in the HOK esports scene, there are also important learning curves that the team discovered.
Seeing how Nova dealt them a heavy blow, Coach Tgee realized that the first step needs to be done.
"For us we need a broader hero pool because they (Nova) banned are signature heroes so we need to practice more," he revealed in the post-match press conference.
Then when looking at the caliber of their foes, jungler Justine "Juschie" Tan compared how his team fared despite the limited amount of preparations.
"Sa tingin ko wala naman kinulang sa amin based sa mga natutunan namin kasi feeling ko lahat ng ipinakita namin kanina, yun yung pinakanatutunan as of six months ng paglalaro namin," he looked back.
"Mas maraming knowledge yung ibang teams compared sa amin since years na naglalaro yung ibang teams samantalang kami, months lang."
As he went on, he then hinted on what made the Malaysian teams a dominant force in the tournament. HOK's roots are based in China and the region has been playing the game ever since it was released back in 2015.
The rest of the regions only had their hands on the game back in 2022, while the Philippines started digging deep into the game only in 2024.
"I think they have experience playing with the KPL (Chinese) teams and they're playing for more than a year, so that's their advantage. They have more knowledge about the game," explained Juschie.
Developing a broader scene
But it's not only the team's individual mechanical skills and in-game knowledge that would further boost their performance as there is a call for more tournaments to take place, which will not only benefit Blacklist, but also the rest of the Filipino teams.
"Siguro kapag nagkaroon ng maraming tournaments sa Pilipinas, makakatulong talaga sa atin yun. Lahat ng teams mag-i-improve kapag may mga major tournament," as stated by Coach Tgee.
His statement alone was enough to force reserve player, Mark "Maze" Galang to scream at the top of his lungs in the press conference, saying: "Major tournament sa Pilipinas, baka naman!"
And given Blacklist's recent performance, perhaps this could inspire an entire nation to answer the Honor of Kings.
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