TWO Filipino squads went home early after a series of tough losses in the first-ever Mobile Legends M1 World Cup at Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Mobile Legends Pro League-Philippines (MPL) runner-up Onic Philippines failed to get out of the group stage, following 2-0 defeats to Indonesia's Evos Legends and Japan's 10second Gaming+. Onic ended their tournament on a high with a 2-1 win over Russia's Deus Vult to earn themselves a 9th-12th place finish.
Meanwhile, Sunsparks placed second in their bracket, thanks to 2-1 wins against all three group opponents. After dispatching Vietnam's VC, the team would run into a brick wall in the next round and fall to Myanmar's Burmese Ghouls, 2-1.
A 5th-6th finish by Sunsparks netted them $8,000 (more than P400,000), while Onic took home $2,000 (more than P200,000).
Indonesia ended up being undisputed best country in the world when it comes to Mobile Legends, after its two representatives duked it out in the grand finals of the M1 World Cup.
Ultimately, Evos Legends bested fellow Indonesians Rex Regum Qeon (RRQ) in the best-of-seven series.
RRQ drew first blood, before Evos evened things out in the second match. However, RRQ got aggressive in the next two games, pushing Evos against the wall, 3-1. The defending Indonesian MPL champs showed their determination with back-to-back wins to force a rubber match.
With momentum on their side, Evos dominated RRQ en route to the inaugural M1 title.
Champs Evos pocketed $80,000 (more than P4 million), while RRQ bagged $40,000 (more than P2 million) as the runner-up.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph