It was also a valiant effort from the Filipino teams playing in their first international event on home ground.
SM City North EDSA witnessed one of the most intense finals in Honor of Kings’ history last Saturday as Nova Esports rose as the HOK Invitational S3 champions.
South Korea’s Noongshim RedForce was able to take Nova to a full seven-game series, pushing Malaysia to the absolute limit.
As the first major international tournament of the HOK competitive season, a lot of eyes were on this event — and not only was it the first HOK major to be hosted in the Philippines, but it was also an opportunity for developing regions to show how much progress they’ve made.
Nova were already heavy favorites to become the HOK Invitational S3 champions. However, there was a faint hope for the Pinoys as two representatives made it to the playoffs. Blacklist International was looking in top form, arguably better than their HOK Championship 2024 showing. Elevate was a close second to Blacklist and looked ready to challenge the international competition.
Unfortunately for Elevate, they had to face down a peaking Noongshim in the quarterfinals. It was a close fight but the Koreans would grind out the Pinoys 4-3. Blacklist would meet a similar, if not more painful, fate in the semifinals. They were actually up 3-0 against their opponents, but their lack of experience with the Global Ban-pick System got the better of them. Noongshim would outmaneuver Blacklist for four straight games, taking the series in a reverse sweep.
At the grand finals, Noongshim would prove that they could match the tournament favorites. The whole series was a fierce back and forth between both sides but it was all decided with game seven’s Ultimate Battle.
Thanks to the blind draft with no restrictions, Nova were able to pick all their comfort heroes. Playing as if a weight off their shoulders, Nova decisively took down Noongshim to become the HOK Invitational S3 champions.
Banner photo by Ramon Domingo.