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It’s a rough start for our Filipino representatives but there’s always a chance to turn things around.
The KIS4 Group Stage concluded with Indonesia riding high with their hometown advantage while everyone else save Nova Esports is on the back foot.
Bigetron, Dominator Esports, and Kagendra are coming up in a big way at the top of their groups. With Dominator sharing a 3-0 match record with Nova, the KIS 2025 champions, it’s looking like this is the tournament where Indonesia might be able to pull ahead of the pack.
For the Philippines, it’s been especially tough as both Blacklist International and BOOM Esports dragged behind the competition. Both finished third in their group with 1-2 match records. Meanwhile, South Korea’s Noongshim RedForce and the inexperienced Team HAQ from Malaysia sit at the bottom with 0-3.
Despite their impressive finish last season, both Filipino teams are looking rather cold in KIS4. While both Blacklist and BOOM had close games with Bigetron and Dominator respectively, the rest of their matches have been less than stellar. Their only wins came from the 0-3 teams and even then those wins weren’t as crisp as they could be.
An argument can be made that some teams aren’t pushing themselves as much at this stage of the tournament. The KIS4 Group Stage is unique in that no teams are eliminated here. It’s mostly used for seeding the teams for the Knockout Stage where it’ll be a single elimination bracket.
If that’s the case, then the time to lock in is now as there’s no second chances past this point. Do the Philippine teamss still have some gas in their tanks or hidden tricks up their sleeve? We’ll find out as Knockouts start on February 5.
Banner photo from Level Infinite.