MANILA, Philippines – All-Filipino team G2 Blacklist settled for second place, falling short in the 2023 Wild Rift League (WRL) Asia Season 2 finals with a 3-4 loss to China’s Keep Best Gaming.
Having eliminated fellow Filipino team NAOS Esports during the WRL Asia-Pacific Conference to reach the finals, G2 Blacklist had a rough start in the tournament after suffering a 0-3 defeat in the round robin stage.
Seeded last heading to the knockout stage, G2 Blacklist took the long road to the grand final. The squad first survived fellow Asia-Pacific bet, KT Rolster of South Korea, 2-0, in the best-of-three match up in the quarterfinals.
Suffering a 9-18 defeat in their semifinals opener against China’s Edward Gaming, it seemed as though it was going to be another all-Chinese team Wild Rift final. But G2 Blacklist managed to regroup and continue their Cinderella run by taking three consecutive games to move on to the Grand Finals, 3-1, facing 2023 WRL Asia Season 1 champions, Keep Best Gaming.
Technically considered a rematch, as G2 Blacklist’s current roster fielded the same silver medalist team from Nigma Galaxy from the previous season, the Filipino squad avenged its prior losses against the Chinese team by turning the tides in Game 1 after Keep Best Gaming took majority of the gold lead in the nearly 25-minute match.
The two teams then traded wins to tie the series at 2-2. But Game 5 saw a snowball victory on the side of the Chinese team, which took a 5-19 victory over the Filipinos in just under 16 minutes.
With their backs against the corner, G2 Blacklist clapped back with an 18-9 victory to force a decider.
It was a battle of map control as both teams refocused their strategies, opting for objectives rather than kills, with Keep Best Gaming outmaneuvering the Filipino squad, to defend their title in WRL Asia.
With the silver finish, G2 Blacklist took home a prize of ¥400,000 (approximately P3 million).