Filipino esports giant Blacklist International has entered the Dota 2 scene by purchasing a slot in Division I of the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) Southeast Asian regional league from Singapore-based organisation RSG.

Blacklist International’s formal entry into Dota 2 was announced in a Facebook post by Tryke Gutierrez, CEO and co-founder of Tier One Entertainment, the agency that manages the team. In his post, Gutierrez thanked RSG founder and CEO Jayf Soh and said that they are now looking to sign players.

Prior to founding Tier One Entertainment and Blacklist International, Gutierrez was one of the Philippines’ most iconic Dota 2 casters and esports personalities.

“This is so unreal but like what I said before, if your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough. Our journey back to the first game I fell in love with starts today,” said Gutierrez.

“I would like to thank my friend Jayf Soh of RSG for being such a professional through out this whole deal process. We will continue what you started.”

Gutierrez did not disclose which players Blacklist International are looking to sign. However, he said in a separate Facebook post earlier this month that his dream was “to build a [Philippines] redeem team”.

When Blacklist International unveiled its League of Legends: Wild Rift team back in March, Gutierrez also mentioned in a vlog that his dream was to have a Dota 2 team.

“This year, it’s happening,” Gutierrez said at the time.

With the ongoing post-The International (TI) roster shuffle, there are a number of Filipino players that have not yet formally signed with a team for the next DPC season.

These players include former Evil Geniuses midlaner Abed “Abed” Yusop, former T1 offlaner Carlo “Kuku” Palad, former Fnatic carry Marc Polo “Raven” Fausto, former BOOM Esports players Erin “Yopaj” Ferrer, Timothy “Tims” Randrup, and Andre “skem” Ong, as well as the former Polaris Esports roster, namely John Anthony “Natsumi” Vargas, Mc Nicholson “Lelouch-” Villanueva, Nikko “Force” Bilocura, Marvin “Xavius” Rushton, and Nico “eyyou” Barcelon, to name a few.

Alongside its new Dota 2 team and aforementioned League of Legends: Wild Rift team, Blacklist International is also fielding rosters that compete in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), Call of Duty, and Garena Free Fire.

Blacklist International’s entry into the Dota 2 scene is the latest of many developments in the global Dota 2 scene’s ongoing post-TI11 roster shuffle.

With so much of the Dota 2 competitive scene cantered around TI and its multimillion-dollar prize pools, most teams are formed with the goal of getting to the game’s world championship tournament in a bid to claim the Aegis of Champions and the lion’s share of the massive prize.

But only one team can win TI, with Tundra Esports being crowned as the champions of TI11 this year.

With that, the rest of the scene are now scrambling to assemble the best rosters possible to try again next year.

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