Image: Honor of Kings
Nongshim Redforce surprised the world by being the first team to qualify for Honor of Kings Invitational Season 3 Knockout Stage.
Nongshim Redforce from the JPKR qualifier successfully surprised the world by being the first team to qualify for Honor of Kings Invitational Season 3 Knockout Stage. The team beat both Bigetron Sigma and Rough World Era to top the group, and was the only team in the tournament to qualify without losing so far.
The South Korean representative will now wait for the other groups to finish their matches to see who they will face at the knockout stages. Bigetron Sigma and Rough World Era are in the same group as Nongshim Redforce, and will meet on the final day of the Group Stage.
While Nongshim Redforce was the first team to qualify for the Knockout Stage, they weren't the first to get a 3-0 win in the tournament. Team Vitality upset Alpha7 Esports with their stellar drafting and mastery over heroes to secure themselves a 3-0 victory. However, they aren't the only ones, as Impunity Esports also secured a 3-0 upset against Kagendra from Indonesia.
The Honor of Kings Invitational Season 3 started with a statement, showing how the global ban pick excites everyone. The tournament's first match already shows that mastering a vast pool of heroes can push a team to perform better than their opponent, with Nongshim Redforce beating Rough World Era 3-1. Over their win, the JPKR qualifier winner picked 20 different heroes while dealing with five of the opponent's bans each game.
Honor of Kings Invitational Season 3 is still on their Group Stage and will last until 24 February, 2025. The tournament will continue to its Knockout Stages on 26 February after a one-day break, and will run all the way up to 1 March, 2025.
