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Two of the home teams in the tournament were seeded into the same group.
The Honor of Kings Invitational Season 3 Group Stage draw has concluded, with the 12 participating teams being split into four groups of three teams each.
Each group will be comprised of one seeded team and two unseeded teams, with the seeded teams being the champions of the tournament qualifiers in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Americas. The seeded teams include the Philippines' Blacklist International, Indonesia's Bigetron Sigma, Malaysia's Nova Esports, and the Americas' Alpha7 Esports.
Group A features two Filipino teams in Blacklist International and Philippines qualifier runner-up Elevate alongside MENA qualifier winner Gen.G Esports. Group B features Americas qualifier winner Alpha7 Esports, Europe's Team Vitality, and Malaysia qualifier runner-up All Gamers Global.
In Group C, Malaysia qualifier winner Nova Esports will meet Wildcard winner Impunity and the runner-up of the Indonesia qualifier Kagendra. Nova Esports and Kagendra will notably face off again following their show-stopping performances in the Honor of Kings Championship 2024. Meanwhile in Group D, Indonesia qualifier winner Bigetron Sigma will meet JPKR qualifier winner Nongshim Redforce and the third team from the host country, Rough World Era.
Here are the groupings for the Honor of Kings Invitational Season 3 Group Stage:
- Group A:
- Blacklist International
- Elevate
- Gen.G Esports
- Group B:
- Alpha7 Esports
- Team Vitality
- All Gamers Global
- Group C:
- Nova Esports
- Impunity
- Kagendra
- Group D:
- Bigetron Esports
- Nongshim Redforce
- Rough World Era
The Honor of Kings Invitational Season 3 will commence on February 21 with its Group Stage, with the Top 2 teams from each group qualifying for the next stage. Every game will be played in a best-of-five Global ban-pick series. Honor of Kings Invitational Season 3 will be the debut tournament for the new draft system and the Ultimate Battle system for best-of-seven series.
