The ERA of the Philippines seems to remain in MLBB as they claim a convincing victory at the IESF World Championship 2023.
For much of 2023 so far, the Philippines looked to have fallen off their perch atop the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang professional scene. After coming in first and second at the M4 World Championships, the PH region was met with a renewed challenge in the form of Indonesia’s resurgence into form. This came with ONIC Esports, as they showed their resilience in the face of what is meant to be the strongest region in MLBB. With stunning victories at both the Mobile Legends Southeast Asia Cup 2023 and the Snapdragon Pro Series, ONIC planted the ID flag firmly back into the ground at the peak of the MLBB mountain – but now there is a high chance that flag has been toppled once again.
On August 26, 2023, MLBB teams from around the globe began their journey in the IESF World Esports Championship, where they put their best foot forward in an international tournament representing their countries. With both ID and PH fielding squads, Bigetron Alpha and AP.Bren being the chosen, respectively, most were certain that these two teams would be the grand finalists – which is exactly what happened.
Having been the “PH-killers” in the Snapdragon Pro Series, BTR players boasted about “eating PH players”, seemingly putting forth that it would happen again on the IESF stage. And with that, the PH players took to the Land of Dawn to prove exactly how far behind ID still is, as they destroyed their opponents in a 3-1 grand final. Even without the upper bracket advantage, which was removed after Frederick “Mirko” Handy Loho brought up how unfair it is to the teams, PH was able to take a fairly easy victory.
Is the PH era back?
While the win does prove that PH is stronger than ID on this occasion, it does not take into account the teams within each region. With ONIC and Rex Regum Qeon being two of the strongest in ID, there may be a bigger challenge if AP.Bren was to face either of those teams. In the same manner, Blacklist International and ECHO also remain two of the best teams from PH – although the MPL season for their region has yet to kick off.
However, what this does mean is that PH is far from down-and-out just yet when it comes to MLBB’s professional scene, and with the M5 World Championship looming on the horizon, it will certainly be quite interesting to see if these two regions will be battling it out once again. Especially with Malaysia also becoming an increasingly large threat, alongside many of the other dark horses within the ever-growing MLBB scene.
Although the IESF World Esports Championships did come with its fair share of problems, such as power outages and teams withdrawing, the event stood as a great precursor to the second half of 2023 – as well as giving us a glimpse into some of the stronger teams from outside SEA, which we should look out for as we head towards M5.
