A top four finish is impressive but it’s only the beginning for Blacklist International.
There’s a lot to be proud of this year for Blacklist’s coach Tgee as he and his team were able to show the potential of the Philippines in HoK esports. Finishing fourth in KIC 2025 shows the monumental potential of the Philippine scene despite it being only their first year.
What remains remarkable, however, is the fact that coach Gerald “Tgee” Gelacio and the rest of Blacklist were able to achieve this result in a relatively short time. In two years they’ve established themselves as one of the top two HoK teams in the country. And after KIC 2025, they’ve established themselves as global contenders to Malaysia’s throne.
Getting this far without any outside help speaks a great deal about the team and the coach points to the strength of spirit of his players for the amount of progress that they’ve made this year.
“Lahat sila gusto talaga mag-improve,” said Blacklist’s coach Tgee. “Sa sarili nila and together with the team. Hindi talaga nakikita ng mga tao ang ginagawa ng team sa pagpapa-practice. Ang dami nilang sina-sacrifice and binibigay na time. Yung yung biggest reason bakit nag-improve yung team ng ganito.”
“May goal din kami na manalo ng international tournament. Unti-unti naming naaabot yon and hindi naman namin minamadali kasi alam namin mahirap yon. Yung mga Malaysian teams, sila talaga yung top tier pero gina-grind namin hanggang maabot namin yon. Hindi kami titigil sa grind kasi gustong-gusto talaga namin yung HoK.”
Steel Sharpens Steel
While a fourth place finish is impressive, it’s shown that there’s still quite a bit of work to do before taking down a Malaysian team becomes a reality.
“Kitang-kita na nag-improve kami pero kulang pa rin,” continued Blacklist’s coach Tgee. “Ayaw namin na hanggang dito lang kami. Yun yung motivation namin, every loss may natutunan kami and gagamitin namin yon to improve.”
On that note, we asked the coach if there was another Filipino team, aside from BOOM Esports, who could stand equal to Blacklist and challenge the Malaysians. Coach Tgee’s assessment was that the gap between the top two Filipino teams and the rest is still rather large. But he believes that after this year, the rest of the Pinoy teams will be inspired enough to take a crack at the two kings of Filipino HoK.
“As a team, gusto din namin na may teams na kayang mag-challenge sa amin para maka-improve overall yung PKL,” said Blacklist’s coach Tgee. “Yun yung maganda kasi kung kalaban mo yung mga malalakas na teams, doon kayo masasanay. Doon mo nakukuha yung playstyle and discipline sa laro. Hopefully makaka-step up yung mga ibang PH teams and I think kaya naman nila.”
Banner photo from Level Infinite.