THE highly popular Mobile Legends: Bang Bang pro league in the country is to unfurl its third season this month with organizers touting it to be another exciting one as it is out to build on the significant gains it had achieved in the previous two stagings.
Organized anew by Mobile Legends: Bang Bang developer Moontoon and Mineski Events Team (MET Events), Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League — Philippines (MPL-Philippines) Season 3 will begin its regular season on March 23 until May 5. After which the Grand Finals would follow.
For season 3, the league will feature the top six teams from the second season along with four new teams that proved their mettle in the open and main qualifier stages last month.
The team directly invited are season 2 champion Cignal Ultra, BREN Esports, SG Dragons (formerly Finesse Solid), Evos PH (formerly SXC Imba), Aether Atlas (formerly Aether Main) and Execration.
Joining them are No Limit, Finesse Phoenix, Arkangel (formerly ArkAngel Wicked Minds) and Arkangel Ownage.
The champion will receive the top prize of $25,000 with the first runner-up and second runner-up getting $13,000 and $6,000, respectively.
Apart of the cash prizes and titles, the tournament’s two best teams will advance to the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Southeast Asia Cup 2019 which will be held in the Philippines following the conclusion of MPL-Philippines’ Season 3. The international tournament will feature the best teams from the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.
Organizers said season 3 of the league would also be a good complement for the country as it gears up for the Southeast Asian Games here later this year where Esports will make its debut.
For MET Events League Administrator Joy Calulo, the growth of Mobile Legends is somewhat represented of the growth of Esports in the country and that gamers and fans should expect a further enhanced staging in season 3 of the league.
“The growth of Mobile Legends mirrors that of Esports in the country. When it first came out it was not accepted outright, especially since it was up against other Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) games. But eventually it was picked up, thanks to I would say its mass appeal,” said Mr. Calulo in an interview with BusinessWorld during the press conference for MPL-Philippines on Feb. 27.
“In the first year of staging of the league, it was a challenge for us as we were grappling with how we will go about it on various fronts. From there it just boomed and fans were really into it. In the second season we just applied what we learned previously,” he added.
Mr. Calulo went on to say that for the third season, apart from the games themselves, it would be about telling the stories of the players.
“For the third year we see it as an exciting one as we do not really know who will come out on top. Aside from the games, we will also show the stories of the players so that fans would get to know them better. These will done by way features on them as well as on the live feeds and as told by the casters,” Mr. Calulo said.
The league is being staged in cooperation with Smart, Game.ly, Facebook Gaming, Dxracer and HyperX.
For more information on the event, check out Mobile Legends: Bang Bang’s Facebook page, https://web.facebook.com/MobileLegendsOnlinePH. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
