The Philippines’ hopes for triumph at the Honor of Kings World Cup (KWC) 2026 were crushed. All three Filipino teams, Blacklist International, Boom Esports and Titan Esports Club were knocked out in the group stages. So the country still hasn’t notched up a major victory on the world stage.
Philippines Kings League (PKL) Spring 2026 defending champion Boom Esports fell to Indonesia’s Team Nemesis in Group D. This dropped Boom down into the bottom bracket. Boom stayed alive after beating Taiwan’s Deep Cross Gaming, but lost again to Team Nemesis in a rematch, ending their streak.
Group B seen back-to-back losses for Titan Esports Club, starting with Malaysia’s Aurora Gaming, then Brazil’s Influence Rage. This meant an early departure from the group stage.
The best of the three Filipino teams was Blacklist International. They started from the play-in stage and lost their first game against Deep Cross Gaming. But they rebounded to beat OG Esports and Nongshim RedForce to make the group stage.
In Group A, Blacklist advanced to the upper bracket final after a 2-0 sweep over Brazil’s MIBR.LOS. There, they played defending champions AG.AL and lost 0-2, sending them to the lower bracket.
Blacklist needed the victory to make the playoffs and faced Team Vitality in the lower bracket final. They forced the match to a deciding game but fell 1-2, dashing the Philippines’ hopes of making it to the knockout stage.
And yet another heartbreak for Philippine esports in this year’s group stage exit. Last year, only Boom survived its first match, then finished the season in the bottom half of the standings. This year, Blacklist qualified through the play-ins, giving the country its greatest result so far.
All three teams will now concentrate on the PKL Autumn Season. They hope to get another chance to represent the Philippines in the Honour of Kings International Championship later this year.
