Little by little, the gap between Malaysia and the Philippines is getting closer.
As the dust settles on KIC 2025, it’s not outrageous to say the Blacklist International really put the Philippines on the global HoK map this tournament. They may have finished fourth after falling to Malaysia’s Alpha Gaming, but their growth throughout the year has been undeniable.
Blacklist International already impressed the world after they were able to bring HomeBois BSE to seven games in the upper bracket semifinals. That brought with it a slim hope that they might be able to finish the job against Malaysia’s third seed. Unfortunately, we were hit by the sobering reality that Malaysia is still one step ahead of the Philippines.
Still, fourth place is still a big milestone, especially for a developing region like the Philippines. The disappointment of the loss is still there but the team can also see how big of an achievement KIC 2025 was for the region.
“I think konting push lang ang kailangan namin,” said Blacklist International’s coach Gerald “Tgee” Gelacio to the media. “Kitang-kita na lumiliit yung gap, hindi siya lumalayo. Goods na yon para sa amin. Underdogs naman kami, diba? Lahat nag-expect na yung Malaysia yung mananalo. Okay na sakin na nakabigay kami ng magandang laban sa kanila, hindi siya one sided.”
Coach Tgee also added that what the team lacked was discipline and clean execution. Malaysia is known to heavily punish misplays and they need to play tighter and close games sooner against them.
“I think hindi sa mechanics sila lumalamang,” said Blacklist International’s Top Laner Chammy “Chammy1” Nazarrea. “Nasa-knowledge ng game and hero pool talaga. Siguro kailangan lang ng konting time yung mga PH teams para aralin pa yung game, heroes, at mag-disiplina pa.”
While the team still sees all the things they need to improve on, their progress this year cannot be understated. They petered out to sixth place in last year’s KIC but were then able to soar in 2025. They got third place in the HoK Invitational earlier this year and got second and first respectively in PKL Spring and Fall. Esports World Cup 2025 was a rough patch for the team but they were able to bring it all back in time for KIC 2025.
“Para sa akin, 10/10 yung improvement namin,” said Blacklist International’s Jungler Justine “Juschie” Tan. “Ibinigay talaga namin ang lahat, at sa bawat tournament palagi may natutunan kami. Nabibitin kami pero yun nga yung kailangan i-improve namin, yung pagiging consistent. I’m proud of my team at sa lahat ng naibigay namin.”
Banner photo from HoK Philippines Esports.