THE REIGNING MPL PH champs, Team Liquid ECHO PH, and the defending World Champions, Falcons AP.Bren, will fly the Philippine flag as they compete in the first ever Esports World Cup slated in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia next month.
Both teams earned the right to represent the country in the July 4-August 25 event after emerging champion and runner-up in the recent MPL (Mobile Legends Professional League) Philippines Season 13.
They will be competing in the Mid-Season Cup (MSC) of the Esports World Cup where Onic Indonesia is the reigning champion.
What are the odds of the Philippines?
“Naglaan kami ng mas maraming oras sa training namin. Three to four weeks ang training days namin. Kaunting days lang ang pahinga namin. Kaya handa na kami bago lumipad (for Riyadh),” said Vincent ‘Pandora’ Unigo of Falcons AP Bren during the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum at the conference hall of the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex on Tuesday.
MPL’s Keith Medrano, who joined Unigo in the same session presented by San Miguel Corporation, Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, MILO, Smart/PLDT and ArenaPlus, the 24/7 sports app in the country, likes the chances of the Filipino gamers to top the event that offers $1million prize money to the champion.
“Yung pagsali natin dito sobrang laki ng chances natin na manalo, dahil laging Pilipinas ang nananalo dito,” said Medrano, noting that the country has won four world championships in the past including two by AP.Bren.
“Malakas ang competition ngayon sa MSC kasi lahat ng teams nag step-up. Pero malaki pa rin ang chance na Pilipinas pa rin ang mag-champion para sa akin,” added Unigo.
The event, which has 21 different video game titles at stake, will feature entries from countries such as Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Brazil, Singapore, China, the Middle East, among others.
In all, a total of $70 million prize money is up for grabs.
Both Liquid ECHO PH and Falcons AP.Bren will go straight to the group stage phase of the tournament.
A total of 16 teams are entered in Mobile Legends and will be divided into four groups of four teams each. The top two from each group will then advance in the knockout stage.
The group stage will be a single round elimination of best-of-three matches, the knockout stage is a best-of-five, and the finals a best-of-seven.
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