THE NORTH AMERICAN Mobile Legends Bang Bang scene has recently hit rock bottom with Team Outplay suffering from a catastrophic exit in MSC 2023 while TheOhioBrothers experienced the same phenomenon in the recent M5 World Championship.
It seems NA has gone downhill ever since they both defied expectations in both M3 and M4 World Championship, with the former being the time when the region was on the verge of reaching the grand finals.
But now it seems the glory days of NA are about to end, especially with the usual problems associated with the region, namely the lack of support and tactical geniuses.
However there could be a glimmer of hope, which was something that Peter Bryce "Basic" Lozano revealed in an exclusive with SPIN.ph.
NA's secret weapon?
The former MPL PH player who is currently in NA in pursuit of his education, explained that there is a Filipino coach in the region, working behind the scenes.
His name is Sir Rose, one of the biggest mysteries in the scene.
Basic described him, saying: "He is not really popular, like he is a lowkey person, but he is a really good coach. No one has really discovered him yet, but people in NA, they know him. In international or social media, he doesn't really [show up]."
Eventually he revealed that he was The Valley's secret weapon during their lower bracket run back in M4. After a shaky group stage outing, the North American squad stormed through the lower bracket, ousting Cambodia's Burn X Flash, Malaysia's Todak, and Brazil's RRQ Akira.
"He is really smart. To be honest in M4, I asked him for help when we got to the lower bracket. His draft really was effective," explained the goldlaner.
That is until they encountered Onic Esports, where The Valley was overwhelmed by the Indonesian juggernauts.
"Because against Onic we kinda got mental blocked and then the gameplay got ruined, but [we were] almost there," explained the former ULVL, Onic PH, and Team Outplay player.
He added: "I have to say, The Valley was strong at that time."
The problems with the NA region
While NA has shown some glimpses of prowess and potential in the previous M-series, it's currently plagued by problems that are pulling it down.
Basic hinted on some of the issues that he noticed when he transitioned to the NACT scene.
"I would say, there's no org first of all. Second the servers are too laggy, and probably the third one, everyone is far away from each other."
And when comparing both his experience in the Philippines to that in the US, it's evident that one has the edge over the other.
"I would say both the regions are really strong, but I'd say the Philippines has more of the advantage because they got nothing to do, [they] just play because they have organizations," started Basic.
"Unlike us we have to work for ourselves, unless if you're a streamer, you can't really spend all of your time playing Mobile Legends."
He recounted on some of his experiences in the NA scene. The lack of a support system has forced players juggle between their personal lives and their aspirations in the pro scene.
"In the Philippines, they have all the time they need to play the game that's how they got paid. For us since we don't have an org, some people work in restaurants and come back to play or even sometimes they'd can't even play because they're too tired and some of them have school," reflected Basic.
And speaking about school, that's currently something that Basic is focusing on as of this moment, forcing him to forego his streaming career.
"For me this is why I quit streaming because I prioritized my school first. I tried doing school while streaming, but at the same time it's impossible because whenever I start streaming, I don't want to do any homeworks anymore."
He further explained: "At first it was easy to say, but in reality you get tired from it. But once I'm done with school, I'll get back to streaming."
A coaching problem?
To further complicate things, are the lack of coaches in the scene. Historically, the NA region has been desperate to field one in tournaments.
In M3, BTK entered their matchups with only their star player Michael "MobaZane" Cosgun as their source of tactical prowess.
And as mentioned earlier, it was Sir Rose who supported North America in their quest for MLBB glory in M4, however he was nowhere to be seen inside the venue.
Then came MSC 2023, when a North American squad finally managed to secure a legitimate coach in Steven "Dale" Vitug, but things were already too late.
All of these were hinted by Basic.
"We have no coach, M3 we had no coach, M4 no coach. In MSC we did, but it was too late to get a coach during that time because after reaching MSC, we only had two weeks of practice."
And while they can hope for Sir Rose to finally step up and take over the reigns, it would be a struggle for an NA team to fully attain his services.
Given the current infrastructure in NA, will Sir Rose fully commit?
Jang "Hoon" Seong-hun perfectly narrated the NA scene's status in an exclusive with SPIN.ph, saying: "I think it's a struggle because we don't have any official sponsors that can provide coaches, or managers. We don't have the budget to put it simply because we don't have an organization that backs us up."
However things could slowly catch up for NA especially with NACT becoming a mainstay, a tournament filled with the hopes and dreams of a desperate playerbase.
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