Blacklist International is ready to spearhead the Filipino contingent for the upcoming Honor of Kings Invitational Season 3.
Coming off a respectable campaign in the HoK Championship 2024, Blacklist International stepped it up a notch with an unbeaten run in the Philippine qualifiers.
The team capped things off with a dominant 4-1 victory over Elevate in the grand finals last Saturday.
The Clash Philippines champion dominated the entire tournament, dispatching Revamp-LFORG and rival BOOM Esports in the upper bracket quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively, via 2-0 victories to punch a ticket to the Invitationals.
Blacklist International then struggled against Elevate in the upper bracket finals, dropping the first two games. But they ultimately found their groove in Game 3 en route to a 3-2 reverse sweep that propelled them to the best-of-seven grand finals.
Elevate, on the other hand, bounced back in the lower bracket finals and took care of business against Rough World Era, 3-1, to set up a rematch against Blacklist International in the finale.
The Tier One-powered squad, however, seemed to have Elevate all figured out, dropping only the third game of the series before securing a 4-1 win to seal a spot in the SEA Showdown.
There, they will face the champions of each region, along with the wildcard phase winner, which include Bigetron Sigma (Indonesia), Nova Esports (Malaysia), and Impunity (Myanmar), in a single-elimination tournament ahead of the Invitationals proper.
Blacklist International will be joined by second-placer Elevate and third-placer Rough World Era in the Invitationals, scheduled to run from February 21 to March 1 next year.
