EVER SINCE Onic Esports acquired Filipino talents Kairi "Kairi" Rayosdelsol and Coach Paul Denver "Yeb" Miranda, the wave of imports taking their skillsets abroad has become a common phenomenon.
And with the success and dominance displayed by Filipinos in international events, which included championship rings from the M2 World Championship until now, as well as the impact of Filipino players joining foreign teams, the demand for Filipinos have increased.
While these are signs of the country's reputation reaching a zenith in the MLBB esports scene, there are certain problems that shoutcaster Neil "Midnight" De Guzman pointed out on his latest post.
Here are some of his concerns.
Are we losing players?
From the amateur ranks all the way to the pros, there are loads of talented players in the country. There are even notable players from the grassroots level that became a success upon becoming pros as seen from Blacklist International's Kenneth "Yue" Tadeo and AP.Bren's Rowgien "Owgwen" Unigo.
However given the demand for Filipinos, what will happen to the development of up-and-coming talents?
"We have an insane amount of players in the country, even in the amateur space. But even MPL PH teams have been constantly sourcing out these players that can be trained to be ready for the pro-stage and that takes a long time," started Midnight.
"That process allows them to filter who is capable and who needs more time to develop. But if PH is constantly deploying players left and right, what would be left for MPL PH?"
But it's not only the youngsters entering or making a name in the scene who will cause a domino effect.
"Connected to the first question, for how long can PH sustain losing its talents? How many Kairi(s) will it give up 'til we start losing on the gems in the pile?" reflected Midnight.
"There is no guarantee that the amount of talent that we are giving up, we can cover in the long run. Yes, MPL PH is full of promising talents now, but how many will remain in the years to come?"
The PH esports ecosystem
Another concern that Midnight pointed out stem from the overall esports ecosystem in the Philippines. The MPL shoutcaster even expressed that other countries may have better benefits for esports pros.
"It is widely known that our esports ecosystem isn't at the same level compared to other countries. For one, Indonesia is ?x amount bigger than us, whatever that multiplier is," stated Midnight.
And because of the level of compensation abroad, Filipino talents could be tempted to take that leap of faith.
"There are just regions that are bigger in Esports, financially and economically. Realistically speaking, it's implication directly affects the players as PH would start losing out to international orgs that have way better offers for its local talent."
And this is what Midnight reiterated on his post.
"That basically sums it up. Kairi already is an example of this. They become much more expensive, which is awesome and good for the players, but does not directly benefit PH."
Should we just accept the system?
And because of the continuous arrival of Filipino players abroad, which highlights some of the issues Midnight raised earlier, is there anything that can be done about it?
Here's what Midnight has to say.
"Fortunately, the rules of MPL does put a lid to the problem as teams are limited when it comes to the number of imports they get. But this still begs the question, is it really okay to just accept things as they are?"
While it may seem concerning to have a huge demand for Filipinos abroad, Midnight reiterated that there are positives given the amount of opportunities that these players will receive.
However he did reveal that he would rather see more coaches develop around the scene, not only Filipino but also foreign coaches.
The importance of developing coaches
"Preferrably, I'd want to see more coaches being developed locally and internationally as well. Honestly, I feel like the success that our region has had for the 4 years PH has dominated MLBB, we owe it not just to the players, but the coaches who've been there from the start," he revealed.
As to how impactful are the coaches? Midnight saw something from these mentors.
"If you list down the names of the coaches whose had the most amount of success and achievements, there is a common denominator amongst all of them. They all knew how to trust the process."
And he even gave an anecdote where he expressed the reasons for PH's dominance to North American content creator, David "Assassin Dave" Mao.
"Assassin Dave once asked my why do I think PH has been really really strong and what makes them different, my answer was 'We just have a better development system... in short, better coaches.' If somebody want to dispute that, just look at the teams who made it to the Grand Finals from M2 to M5."
In the end, he wished that other teams and regions would soon develop their coaching staff much like the renaissance that is happening in the Philippines.
"I don't think the answer just comes from sourcing PH coaches to other regions, but this year might be time time for the others to start looking for their Duckeyyys, Bon Chans, Yebs, Tictacs, or Pandas (although ID has Hello Panda)," he reflected.
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