IT WAS AN ESPORTS pairing no one expected, as two top esports organizations joined forces in one of the most unexpected scenarios.
G2 the winningest team in the League of Legends European Championship (9 titles), and Blacklist International, the only squad in the MPL-PH with a back-to-back title and three titles under their belt, including a world championship, built history in the wild west that is League of Legends Wild Rift.
Unexpected partnership in the world of esports
For Tier One Entertainment and Blacklist co-founder and CEO Tryke Gutierrez, it was an unexpected match made in heaven when G2 Esports reached out to form a partnership with them.
“For this to have happened, ang dami talagang kailangan muna mag-align,” Gutierrez told the press during the G2 Blacklist debut watch party.
He also disclosed that it was a one-year discussion and negotiation between the parties.
“So they (G2) approached us first. So the owner of Bitkraft who was one of our investors brought up the idea to them. So they approached us. Hindi naman kami ganoon kalakas yung loob na “partner tayo!” he shared.
G2 Esports is one of the top 10 largest valued esports companies in the world sitting at a USD 340 million valuation by May last year. The organization operates at least 9 different esports teams with multiple content creators signed under their brand.

Full circle for Blacklist and G2 esports.
It was surreal for Gutierrez who admitted to reports that they’ve patterned Blacklist international with the storied European organization.
“We feel like G2 as an organization is an organization that we patterned Blacklist to when we were starting out.”
“What we admired about G2 is that they were always about winning. So because of that, we want to be affiliated with a team that wants to win. Kasi sa Blacklist winning culture talaga yung finofocus namin eh, so we affiliated with G2 who has always (had) a winning culture.” He explained.
He also honed in on the memes that came with the partnership including the iconic “0-3, 0-4”
“We might not always win, like what we said 0-3 sila (Worlds 2019), kami 0-4 (M4 World Championship) kilala kami sa dalawang memes na yun ok lang.” he jokingly said.
“At the end of the day we were still in the finals, we might be the first losers, but we were still in the finals so like yun nga. Having a partner that has the same winning culture as us is really lead to the partnership.”
Even the teams' branding was a match made in heaven, considering both squads utilize the same black-and-white branding.
“Super ok talaga yung partnership, if you’ve seen the logos in terms of its aesthetic. It goes to show how harmonious the relationship is. If you’ve seen the balance of it all, it really shows the balance of the partnership.”
But he joking admitted that the negotiations for the creatives and branding lasted longer than the talks of partnership
“G2 is a very intense partner when it comes to creatives. Whenever creatives are involved sobrang involved talaga sila. For every tuldok, for every talagang involved sila eh ako ganoon din ako, I’m very hardcore when it comes to design because I am a graphic designer at heart.”
“Mas mahirap pa yung logo na design! So I really applaud the designer for making that up.”
The compromises of this massive esports marriage
Of course, like any other union, some compromises were needed to form the “marriage” of these two storied organizations.
“I never imagined myself starring in a video, ako more on vlog and something organic. Pero that’s the way of G2 diba? So ok like I gave that up. So eto naman, eto naman yung ways namin to acquire players."
"To be transparent at first they were like this is the superstar of this, this is the superstar of this isho-shoot natin sila together and that was the expectation. Nagtataka sila why didn’t you like identify players and put them together?”
Despite the questions, he stood his ground explaining that building it was not the Blacklist way. Fortunately, it was a compromise the two organizations were willing to make.
“We’re like, the way we do it we identify a team and then we add pieces after. So yung principle naman na iyon, kami naman yung trinust nila kasi kami naman yung mag-o-operate ng team locally eh. So that I really appreciated.”
“It’s really a fine balance of you give up something and they give up something and find that middle ground.”
Even with a powerhouse team like The 300 (formerly RRQ PH) available prior to the WRL-Asia qualifier, open. Blacklist never thought about mixing their roster.
“Never. We came from talent management and we are always working on a principle that we believe in our people. The people around us are still fighting for the same things that we want to fight for. We would rather choose that than get an outsider just because of the output. So yes the end might justify the means, but for us the mean is just as important.”
G2 Blacklist is composed of former Team Underground players, Richard "Demon" Lara (Dragon laner), Jairus Allain "Jace" Elgera (Jungler), Jhon Mike "Xyliath" Tungol (Midlaner), Beaver-ed "Orthros" Villanueva, (Support/Captain), and Allen Dean "Don" Viola (Baron). Meanwhile, Hans "WUrahhhh" Solano will serve as the Head Coach and Keiya "XDXP" Laureta will serve as the Assistant Coach.
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