With an all-star lineup and near-perfect result in the regular season, can NIP Flash win another title in MPL SG Season 8?
Image courtesy of MPL Singapore
Every Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League (MPL) in the major regions this season saw one team put on a performance that has blown everybody away. For MPL Indonesia S14, there's 
RRQ Hoshi; for MPL Philippines S14, there's 
FNATIC Onic PH; and for MPL Malaysia S14, there's 
Selangor Red Giants.
How about MPL Singapore? Well, the one team that has looked unstoppable with almost perfect results in the regular season is 
NIP Flash.
The Los Galacticos of MPL Singapore blew every team out of the water bar one, Rift Esports, in a 2-0 defeat after securing an upper bracket placement in Week 3 of MPL Singapore Season 8. The team looked good on the field and on track to possibly do a three-peat, a feat previously done by RSG Singapore.
So, why couldn't anyone stop them at MPL Singapore beside Rift Esports? And why did Rift win 2-0 against them?
You can't fight sheer brilliance with ordinary method
The strategy driving NIP Flash's success is simple: be better than your opponent. This can only happen when you have an all-star team. All six series they won ended with a 2-0 score, even when they had to substitute one of their players.
Another factor in their success was the brilliance of their coach, Zarate. He believed in his players and allowed them to use any hero available to gain an advantage. Their draft couldn’t be predicted and notoriously blew the caster’s mind every time.
This was proven by the number of heroes the team used during the regular season of MPL SG Season 8. In total, NIP Flash used 36 heroes across all matches, proving their versatility and prowess in the tournament.
One prime example of their dominance in the league was when 
Diablo didn’t play in MPL Singapore and NIP Flash relied on a substitute player against Homebois SG. Adam “Adammir” Chong was called to action to fill the EXP laner for their team. Rather than playing differently, they shocked everyone with an unusual draft.
In the first game, they used a once necessary but now-forgotten hero, Yi Sun-shin, in the jungle for 
Jaymark Aaron “Hadess” Lazaro. Even with a substitute and a strange draft, NIP Flash took down Homebois SG in 13 minutes.
The second game was an even weirder draft as NIP Flash picked Fanny but gave her to Jankurt Russel “KurtTzy” Matira rather than Hadess. The jungler, the other hand, picked Bane for the extra area damage from him. This time, they took down their opponent even quicker. Recording a 9 minutes win for the leaderboard king.
Even 
EVIL, the only team that, on paper, has a chance to disrupt them, got swept clean by the defending champion.
So why could Rift Esports take down NIP Flash? Were they finally breaking the NIP.Flash’s code? Well, kind of. Before their match happened, NIP Flash switched the roles of four players at once. JPL and Diablo swapped roles, and so did Hadess and Vanix. Again, these shenanigans shocked every caster and fan watching the match, as Rift must now throw their strategies out of the window.
This time, NIP Flash couldn’t secure a victory as Rift Esports took them down, albeit with difficulties. However, this loss couldn’t accurately measure the victor’s understanding as the defending champion “didn’t use” their best team composition.
With that said, perhaps this year, NIP Flash will dominate Singapore by winning the MPL SG Season 8. Maybe they will also considered a powerful team when the M6 World Championship start. That, however, needs to wait until the conclusion of MPL Singapore Season 8.
