Kuala Lumpur Hunters have been the mainstay in the Malaysian League Of Legends professional scene, and it looks like they will remain so. KL Hunters have been dominating the scene since its inception as they won The Legends Circuit Malaysia playoffs since 2014. And so they continue to do so in the spring season of the newly rechristened League Of Legends Championship Malaysia- the top national league for League Of Legends.
Held at Quill Mall City, Kuala Lumpur on March 17th-18th, the top 4 of throughout the regular season which commenced from the February 3rd- March 11th, qualified for the playoffs. KL Hunters were joined by Fire Dragoon Esports, Geek Fam and SP Gaming Team to reach play for a piece of the RM168,00 prize pool, the winners taking RM60,000 home.
The matches were a best of five, double elimination bracket which was not only livestreamed, but also broadcasted on TV9- a Media Prima-owned channel, which Garena has entered collaboration with.
Fire Dragoon pulled an upset in the first match, running away with a 3-1 against KL Hunters. But one loss is enough for the hunters to pull back as they won 3-0 against SP Gaming and nail-biter 3-2 against Geek Fam. The grand finals saw Fire Dragoon leading, taking the first win but was reverse sweeped by the Hunters, turning the tide with three straight wins afterwards.
The 3-1 win has KL Hunters to remain the top dog League Of Legends team in Malaysia- winning the trophy for a whopping five times in a row, and will represent the country in the Garena Premier League (GPL)- the Southeast Asian league equivalent to the LCS in North America, Europe and the LCK for South Korea.
But congratulations are in order to Fire Dragoon, this is the first time the team managed to reach the playoffs and gave a strong challenge to the current king. Should they continue to keep this momentum, maybe next season we will see the Hunters become the hunted.