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Honor of Kings International Championship 2023

CompletedTier S

The Honor of Kings International Championship 2023 (known as KIC 2023) is the largest and most massive version of the world championship for the popular mobile game Honor of Kings (the most successful global MOBA).

Honor of kingsNov 29, 2023 – Dec 30, 2023Shanghai - Shenzhen - Chengdu, ChinaChina$9,747,685Level Infinite TiMi Studios VSPO

Format

. Group Stage

  • Date: November 29th – December 9th, 2023

  • Venue: Shanghai VSPO KPL E-Sports Arena

  • Draw Ceremony: Held on November 26th at the Shanghai INS Fuxing Park International Esports Hall following the KIC Welcome Tea.

Format & Group Composition

The 16 participating teams are split into 4 groups of 4. Each group is mathematically balanced to contain:

  • 1 KPL Seed: (Talent Gaming, Wolves, Weibo Gaming, or KuaiShow Gaming)

  • 1 Global Seed: (Saigon Phantom, Keyd Stars, Talon Esports, or Hong Kong Attitude)

  • 2 Non-Seed Teams: (Qualified via KPL Phase 2 or the Wildcard stage)

Match Rules & Scoring

  • Format: Double Round-Robin, with all matches played as a Best-of-2 (Bo2) under Global Ban-Pick Rules.

  • Points System:

    • 2-0 Win: 3 points

    • 1-1 Draw: 1 point

    • 0-2 Loss: 0 points

  • Progression: The Top 2 teams from each group advance to the Knockout Stage, while the bottom 2 are eliminated.

2. Knockout Stage

  • Date: December 22nd – 28th, 2023 (Rescheduled from the original Dec 12–24 timeline due to unforeseen circumstances).

  • Venue: Shenzhen Bao'an Stadium

  • Broadcast Note: Matches exclusively involving non-KPL teams were not broadcasted live on mainland Chinese platforms.

Format & Bracket Draw

  • Structure: Double-elimination bracket.

  • Draw Restrictions: Group winners are seeded, and group runners-up are unseeded. Seeded teams are drawn first. Group Stage rematches are strictly prohibited in the opening round. The draw was conducted by club representatives on December 9th, 2023.

  • Match Length: All matches are played as a Best-of-7 (Bo7) utilizing Global Ban/Pick with the Ultimate Battle rule.

Side-Selection Rules

  • For the Upper Bracket Quarterfinals, the Group Winners automatically receive side-selection for Game 1.

  • For all subsequent matches, Game 1 side-selection is determined by a coin flip.

  • From Game 2 onward, the losing team of the previous game chooses the side.

3. Grand Finals

  • Date: December 30th, 2023

  • Venue: Chengdu Phoenix Hill Sports Park

  • Format: Best-of-7 (Bo7) utilizing Global Ban/Pick with the Ultimate Battle rule.

  • Side-Selection: The winner of the Upper Bracket Finals secures side-selection for Game 1. For all following games, side-selection shifts to the loser of the preceding game.

Watch stream

Watch stream