Blacklist International exits Honor of Kings Championship after sweep loss to Nova Esports

JAKARTA — Philippine team Blacklist International failed to continue its campaign in the 2024 Honor of Kings Championship after falling prey to Malaysia's Nova Esports, 0-3, in their lower bracket quarterfinals clash on Friday night here. 

Blacklist is one of the two Filipino teams in the global tournament alongside BOOM Esports, which bowed out earlier after a loss to the same team in the opening round of the lower bracket. 

"Actually, this is our first tournament in HoK international stage and I'm so proud of my boys because out of the 16 teams, we're in the top six," Blacklist International head coach Gerald Gianne "Tgee" Gelacio said in the post-game press conference. 

Clash laner Xuan and jungler Cy took charge for Nova Esports in the first two games, earning the MVP honors on their Guan Yu and Augran, respectively, as they zoomed to a commanding 2-0 lead over the Filipinos. 

Nova's farm laner Muci then secured the first overlord at the 8:18 mark of the crucial Game 3 before they unleashed a double kill on Blacklist International that eventually led to an ace. 

Nova Esports then never looked back, destroying the base even without the help of the minions as all three Malaysian teams remain alive in the competition with Black Shrew Esports and Team Secret still in the running. 

Black Shrew Esports will see action in the upper bracket finals on Saturday against hometown bet Dominator Esports of Indonesia while Team Secret, which earlier swept Fearless Esports of Turkey, will go up against Nova Esports in the lower bracket semis later in the same day. 

Despite the exit, Tgee said their accomplishment was already beyond expectation as they had only trained and convened for six months now. 

"We played for only six months in HoK so we're a very new team. Malaysian teams are so strong, maybe in the future we can beat them."

—JKC, GMA Integrated News