Nigma Galaxy strikes silver in Wild Rift League Asia

MANILA, Philippines — Though falling against China's KeepBest Gaming, 4-0, in the grand finals of the Wild Rift League Asia Season One, Nigma Galaxy has garnered the attention of the League of Legends Wild Rift community.

This after surviving Chinese Conference champions, J Team, 3-2, in the upper bracket finals, preventing an all-Chinese team final.

The Wild Rift Esports scene has been dominated by Chinese teams since its first global tournament, the Horizon Cup back in 2021, wherein Chinese teams Da Kun Gaming and ThunderTalk Gaming met in the finals. The following year in the Wild Rift Icons Global Championship, it was two Chinese teams once more who met in the grand finals: Nova Esports and J Team.

Though many believed that this year would see a third all-Chinese team grand finals, Asia-Pacific Conference champions Nigma Galaxy had other ideas and gave Chinese champions J Team their first defeat since May during the group stages to secure their slot in the semifinal.

The Southeast Asian Games gold medalist seemed to be on the brink of elimination when they met J Team again in the knockout stages as the Chinese team went up 1-2. But Nigma Galaxy regained their momentum and survived the Chinese champions, 3-2, to deny an all-Chinese grand final in Wild Rift since 2021.

Hoping to secure a Wild Rift championship title for the Philippines, Nigma Galaxy started strong with a 13-6 lead as they sieged KeepBest Gaming's base. But the clash at the Elder Dragon turned the tides around for the Chinese squad and set the tone of the match-up. With the Game 1 win, KeepBest Gaming did not give the Filipinos any other chance to retaliate as they swept Nigma Galaxy, 4-0.

The silver finish is the best a Filipino team has secured in the Wild Rift Esports scene, with Nigma Galaxy taking home ¥400,000 (approximately P3 million).