Seeing the land where HoK reigns supreme has lit a fire inside the star Jungler.
It’s not everyday you get invited to watch HoK played at its peak and Blacklist’s Juschie didn’t hesitate to take that offer. He was able to watch the KPL Grand Finals 2025 live at the Bird’s Nest Beijing National Stadium, where AG Super Play were able to take the championship in front of a whopping 62,000 live in-venue watchers, breaking a Guiness World Record in the process.
This isn’t the first time Justine “Juschie” Tan has traveled to China. However, it is his first time seeing just how massive the following of HoK is in their homeland.
“Yung experience na yun, sobrang ganda kasi nanood kami ng KPL,” said Blacklist’s Juschie. “Sobrang grabe kasi sobrang dami ng tao. Tapos sobrang laki din nung stage. Kaya nakaka-motivate para mas-lumakas.”
Considering that he was part of that same gigantic crowd, seeing what the absolute top end of professional competitive HoK is like, one would wonder if Juschie felt a bit intimidated by the sheer size of HoK’s Chinese following. But he remains undeterred – downright confident even.
“Na-motivate lang talaga ako,” said Blacklist’s Juschie. “Tapos naniniwala ako na kaya natin sabayan yung China, lalo pag same patch na.”
Room For Improvement
It’s worth noting that the rest of the world is behind China in HoK in a literal sense. Everyone else is playing several versions of the game behind China, in an effort to ease new players into the HoK experience. The Chinese version has a substantially bigger roster of heroes, thus their strategies are much more different compared to everyone.
That meant that Juschie could only really enjoy the matches he watched at the KPL Grand Finals. But it did let him reflect on what else Blacklist needs to do if they want to match the prowess of the Chinese teams.
“Yung kulang pa namin is yung disiplina at consistency,” said Blacklsit’s Juschie. “Kasi may times na pag-go na kami, go talaga kami, diretso talaga. May situations na kailangan mag-back off kami na nami-miss namin. Yun yung problem namin sa consistency. Kumbaga yung nagagawa namin sa scrims, hindi namin palagi nagagawa sa tournaments. Yun yung kailangan namin iayos ngayong KIC 2025.”
Banner photo from Level Infinite.
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