After winning the first two iterations of the MWI as Bigetron Era, can Team Vitality make it a three-peat this year?

The women's Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) esports scene is set to take the spotlight in the upcoming MLBB Women’s Invitational (MWI) 2024 in late July. As part of the Esports World Cup, 12 of the best women's MLBB teams from all across the world will be battling it out in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for the right to claim the title of strongest in the world as well as the grand prize of $180,000 out of a $500,000 prize pool.

Team Vitality Female will be among the 12 championship hopefuls in this year’s MWI as one of the two representatives for Indonesia, a country many consider to be among the two best nations in MLBB.

The reigning back-to-back MWI champions

Team Vitality are far and away the biggest favourites to take the championship of the 2024 MWI, having acquired the roster that won the last two iterations of the tournament. Not only that, its players are also some of the most experienced and prolific players in the entire women's MLBB scene.

The story of Team Vitality starts all the way back in August 2019 when Bigetron Esports, one of the biggest esports organisations in Indonesia, created a women's MLBB division called Bigetron Era. One of the founding members of Bigetron Era remains with the team to this day: star roamer Vivi “Vivian” Indrawaty.

The other members of the current Vitality roster joined Bigetron Era over the next few years. Jungler Viorelle “Vival” Valencia as well as the sisters Cindy Laurent “Cinny” Siswanto, the team's mid laner, and Michelle “Chel” Siswanto, their gold laner, joined in 2021. The most recent addition to the roster, EXP laner Venny “Fumi Eko” Lim, joined in 2022.

Throughout that time, Bigetron Era dominated the women's tournaments in and around Indonesia, notably winning Seasons 3 to 8 of the Woman Star League (WSL). But the crown jewels of the team's achievements are their back-to-back championships in the first two iterations of MWI in 2022 and 2023.

And after claiming yet another victory in WSL Season 8 in February, where they lost only two games across both the Group Stage and Playoffs, Bigetron Era now have the chance to go for a three-peat in this year's MWI. It is also worth noting that their latest WSL championship also earned them a spot in the MLBB Professional League (MPL) Indonesia Season 10.

But Bigetron Era's roster will be looking to claim the triple MWI crown under a different banner after they were acquired by Team Vitality in May.

Vitality's decision to sign the Bigetron Era roster is a huge vote of confidence in the veteran squad, as the French-based organisation primarily known for competing in FPS titles chose to enter MLBB with just a women's team. And when looking at the roster's expansive list of accolades, who can blame them?

History in the making

As prolific as they are, perhaps the only question surrounding Vitality is this: will they make history and three-peat as MWI champions this year? All signs point towards them being able to do so and in a dominant fashion, as they did the last two years.

In their run to back-to-back MWI championships, the Vitality roster that played under Bigetron Era at the time lost just one game: game three of the MWI 2022 grand finals. Outside of the MWI, the roster continued to be nigh-unbeatable. Aside from their skill and experience, a major advantage Vitality will have against most of their opponents will be continuity. Only Fumi Eko was not part of the team that won MWI 2022, but she was part of the roster that won MWI 2023.

While every player on the Vitality roster is easily among the best in their respective positions, if not the outright best, the team's key player is Vivian. Often referred to as the “Mother of Indonesian Tanks”, Vivian is peerless within her role. She presents an impenetrable wall to opponents, from behind which her teammates have free reign to take over and push the team to victory.

As the only player remaining from the original Bigetron Era roster all those years ago, Vivian's experience serves as an unshakeable foundation her team can rely on. Her dedication to the game can only be matched by a few, often grinding MLBB on her regular livestream as soon as she returns home from classes.

That commitment has paid dividends, of course. She currently boasts an incredible streak of 19-straight first place finishes dating all the way back to 2021, including a gold medal in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games women's MLBB event, numerous WSL titles, and back-to-back MWI championships. And it looks like she'll be adding a third MWI trophy to her repertoire soon too.

If there is one big challenger to Vitality's reign in this year's MWI, it will be fellow Indonesian team Falcons Vega, a roster that previously played under the banner of GPX Basreng. But it should be noted that it was that same team that the Vitality roster defeated in the grand finals of the last two MWI's.

Another big challenger could be the Philippines' Omega Empress, who finished third in MWI 2023. However, Omega Empress only faced them in the Group Stage, where the Indonesian squad easily triumphed. With that said, as the reigning two-time MWI champions, all the teams there see Vitality as the one team to beat.

But if you come for the queen, you best not miss. All other challengers so far have. The MWI 2024 championship is Vitality's to lose.

Team Vitality roster:

MLBB Women's Invitational 2024: Team Vitality, the reigning two-time MWI champions