Analyzing Thunder Predator’s Aggro Playstyle in ONE Esports Singapore Major 2021

Dota 2’s first offline Valve Major event of 2021 has just come to an end, crowing Invictus Gaming as the Grand Champions. Throughout the event, a multitude of upsets and surprises filled the matches, and it is this special characteristic of Dota 2 matches that keep the viewers returning.

Further, given that this is the first event to include teams from different regions, the tournament’s META was nothing but a surprise for most people. Once the respective regions’ META was brought together, they orchestrated purely entertaining Dota matches that fans have longed for ever since.

In particular, there was a team that caught everyone’s attention, Thunder Predator. This underdog squad from South America surprised everyone due to how unique and skillful their playstyle was during this event. Not everybody was even familiar with their lineup, let alone knowing what strategies are under their sleeves.

In this article, we shall first view a brief history of the Thunder Predator roster, analyze what’s so special about their draft and how they blended such a risky draft with their aggressive and iconic playstyle.

South American Veterans

Although Thunder Predator rarely received mainstream media spotlight, the organization itself has been established since 2017, initially consisting of South America’s oldest Dota 2 players. In its latest form, the lineup also includes players who have been in the scene for about the same time as when the organization was first established.

Thunder Predator at ONE Esports Singapore Major 2021. Source: Thunder Predator Facebook.

Out of the five players, Frank, MoOz, and Wu, only started their competitive year starting 2017 by joining the likes of team Gorillaz-Pride and the more popular Infamous.Black. On the other hand, the two remaining players Mnz and LeoStyle- have been playing professionally since 2015, joining teams as old as Team Unknown and Digital Chaos.SA — if that rings any bell.

Moreover, what most didn’t know was the fact that Mnz used to play under the name of Kotaro Hayama, who is amongst South America’s oldest Dota 2 players around. So at first glance, this team had a ton of experience under their belt and this event happened to be the stage for them to unleash their might.

Coming into the ONE Esports Singapore Major 2021, most viewers were considerably doubtful, for a sensible reason. That is, South America’s Playoffs representative team, beastcoast, had just withdrawn from the Major due to COVID-19 infections. Naturally, fans were bitter as beastcoast was seen as the strongest best from their region.

As a result, Thunder Predator had massive shoes to fill, if they were to succeed their rivals beastcoast. Keep in mind that Thunder Predator only received a Group Stage seed, meaning that they would need to perform better than other teams if they were to redeem the Upper Bracket playoffs slot that beastcoast should’ve had. Nonetheless, Thunder Predator entered the event like mad wolves, shocking almost everybody watching.

Aggressive and Agile Draft

Watching Thunder Predator play in the Group Stage and later in the Playoffs was nothing but thrilling. The way they time their tempo and momentum during team fights was nothing less but beautiful, like a well-choreographed performance. It reminded me a lot of the way that the former Wings Gaming or perhaps TI8 OG liked to play, highly aggressive yet very timing-based approaches.

At the same time, they did so while still attending to the latest META, as their picks were just like any other teams’. Among their most-used heroes were Earth Spirit, Oracle, Death Prophet, Pangolier, Phoenix, and Tusk. These heroes were mixed-and-matched with other heroes and defined a major part of their drafting style.

If you noticed, these heroes are the type of heroes who could go nuts if you want to. You can dive pretty far into the enemy territories given how agile they are. Earth Spirit’s Rolling Boulder, Tusk’s Snowball, Phoenix’s Icarus Dive, Pangolier’s Rolling Thunder, are few examples of those kinds of abilities.

These skills are risky, as they could easily backfire when performed incorrectly. However, users of these skills should also not be overly scared and should be willing to dive deep, as long as they have the remaining of their team covering their backs. And Thunder Predator did just that. Many times heroes like Earth Spirit or Tusk initiates a skirmish, and the remaining team comes prepared to help out.

In an interview with Yahoo Esports Southeast Asia, MoOz himself expressed how crazy his team’s playstyle is, “we are actually kind of crazy. We just want to be as aggressive as we can. So, we make super aggressive calls and that’s how we like to play, and that’s how we think we are going to put pressure on the enemy teams. So, we are very loud and very Peruvian. So, you can imagine.”

Watching the way Thunder Predator players handle skirmishes is literally a five-man kiting-action. Many times some of them over-extended their steps, but the remaining four stepped in and might as well turn the tables around. Like a pack of wolves, every one of them keeps all members intact and as safe as possible, but never fearful of engaging in team fights.

It is this formula that kept Thunder Predator alive during the Group Stage. In fact, they dominated almost every team in the pool, ending the Round-robin stage with a 5-2 match-win-loss. They won 2-0 against every team except Vici Gaming and OB Esports x Neon, where they tied the series 1-1.

That said, they received an Upper Bracket seed which could’ve been beastcoast’s. Nevertheless, they delivered a very satisfying result and many were surprised they could have reached such an outcome.

The Playoffs Run

Continuing their journey in the event, Thunder Predator faced Team Secret from the get-go in their very first Playoffs match. Being the experienced team that they are, Team Secret had a plan against these mad men’s playstyle.

In both matches, they banned Puck, which is Thunder Predator’s most-banned hero throughout the entire event. The hero was banned up to 10 times in total, given how deadly it could be if the META-favorite hero fell to the hands of LeoStyle-. They also banned Thunder Predator’s comfort picks like Morphling, Phoenix, and Death Prophet in between the two games.

Also, Team Secret managed to dampen the aggression pushed by Thunder Predator to the late-game, where Thunder Predator’s winning-key lies in: their early-game aggression. As such, Team Secret swept the series 2-0 and pushed Thunder Predator into the Lower Bracket.

Thunder Predator defeated by Team Secret. Source: Thunder Predator Facebook.

In their first Lower Bracket match, they were paired against Team Aster, and this Chinese team is better known to be more disciplined and patient in their games. Indeed, Thunder Predator took advantage of this very fact and rolled through Aster in the entire series.

In both games, Thunder Predator drafted Tusk, Pangolier, and Phoenix. Again, these three heroes are amongst their most favorite and comfortable picks out of all. Their strategy is to use these heroes and play them as aggressively as possible while making space for their Cores who will later be responsible to close out the series in their favor.

Following that series, Thunder Predator was up against Virtus.pro, a roster with young and talented players who are just as bold as their South American rivals are. In the first game, it was Thunder Predator’s Cores who popped off and carried the entire game with heroes like Weaver and Windranger.

In the second game, however, Virtus.pro allowed Thunder Predator to not only pick Earth Spirit and Phoenix, but also Puck. They paired the three with Troll Warlord and Beastmaster, allowing for strong late-game and pushing capabilities. The game looked grim for Virtus.pro from the very beginning, and Thunder Predator ultimately stomped the series 2-0 and continued their run in the Major.

Final Boss: Invictus Gaming

Like their match against Secret, Thunder Predator had a slim chance when facing Invictus Gaming in the Lower Bracket Round 3. Invictus Gaming was amongst the heavy favorites of the tournament, and many expected them to win the Major altogether.

Nonetheless, Thunder Predator kickstarted the first game with a bang as they rolled through the Chinese in just under 30 minutes with heroes like Death Prophet and Juggernaut. A lot of fans were surprised to see them take the first game. Unfortunately, it was Invictus Gaming’s Emo in the second game who, conversely dominated the game with his Puck.

And in the third deciding match, Invictus Gaming had the upper hand since the drafting phase. They banned Puck and Death Prophet and proceeded by picking a Phoenix of their own. With an even more aggressive hero like Storm Spirit and Troll Warlord, Invictus Gaming cornered Thunder Predator into a draft that didn’t belong to their playstyle.

Thunder Predator’s roster at ONE Esports Singapore Major 2021. Source: Thunder Predator Facebook.

Unfortunately for the South Americans, their 2021 Major run concluded with a close 1-2 loss against Invictus Gaming, who would later be crowned Champions of the event.

Closing Remarks

Seeing Thunder Predator play is seeing Dota in its full potential. With the right set of heroes and the appropriate style of gameplay, it could very well keep viewers on the edge of their seats. It shall be interesting to see how Thunder Predator would fair in the next season of the Dota Pro Circuit and what other surprises we shall witness in the matches that follow.

Featured Image by Thunder Predator.

From League of Legends to Mobile Legends: Peter “AirLiur” Tjahjadi’s Bold Esports Quest

When the public thinks of esports, they used to understand it merely as a bunch of nerds playing their games intensely. It is only in recent years that the public perception has changed towards a more open mindset regarding what esports really is. However, what is more often discussed and attended to is how successful an esports athlete could be — with all the luxury of fame, wealth, and prestige.

Yet, not everybody understands the hardship and struggle that comes before all of those ideals. In fact, not everybody made it to the big stage. Some retired before ever lifting trophies, or had to leave because the game’s scene couldn’t survive the wave of modern esports titles. If anything, the decisions that an esports athlete makes during their career could crucially affect their longevity as a professional player.

Since stories like these are often untold, forgotten, or neglected, we must realize how esports is just like any other career: not everything will work out as we desire, and that making bold decisions is equally necessary.

Thinking of such a scenario made me recall a professional player whom I have had time to chat with back in 2017. At that time, Indonesia’s esports scene was still under heavy development, and that only a small portion of the general public understood what it’s all about. His name is Peter Tjahjadi, more commonly known by his in-game nickname, AirLiur.

AirLiur in LGS Spring 2018 Photoshoot. Source: @airliur__.

Seeing AirLiur take a sharp turn in his esports career, in my opinion, is as reflective as the present Indonesian esports scene today. Most, if not all, the focus is placed on the top-selling games, while less popular titles are gradually fading away. This led to the phenomenon of professionals having to switch to a different esports title, even if it meant a hard reset on their career.

Multiple professional players, especially those coming from PC-games like Dota 2 and League of Legends did just that. A handful of them made a transition to mobile games like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Arena of Valor, and recently League of Legends: Wild Rift.

Peter is indeed one of them. He made the switch from League of Legends to Mobile Legends and is currently part of Geek Fam Indonesia’s Mobile Legends Development League (MDL) roster. What makes Peter’s story intriguing is not only his quick adaptation to Mobile Legends’ competitive scene, but also the price he had to pay to make the switch.

Bige, Bigetron, and the LGS

Peter started his competitive journey back in around 2014/15, which was during the earliest days of League of Legends Indonesia. The original game kickstarted in 2009, but it took quite a while to reach the Indonesian competitive scene. Like many others, Peter began by joining small-scale tournaments with a couple of friends.

Amongst his earliest tournaments is the Teemo Cup – a monthly event in search of the best rookie League of Legends teams. In conjunction with the game’s new hype, the event organizers partnered with several internet cafes. In a roadshow-like fashion, League of Legends continued to popularize through these forms of events, attracting the earliest Indonesian communities.

Teemo Cup, back in the day, meant quite a lot for rookies or casual players alike. The event featured in-game currency as prizes, as well as a chance to participate in Glorious Arena. Glorious Arena provided a pathway for teams to participate in League of Legends Indonesia’s main league, the League of Legends Garuda Series, or LGS for short.

Afterward, AirLiur was recruited by his fellow future teammate, Teemolamon, forming a team called Bige. It was after a loss in the Glorious Arena when the two met Edwin Chia, also known as Starlest. They merged their respective teams, forming the foundation of Bigetron Esports.

Bigetron Esports League of Legends 2017. Source: @airliur__.

Today’s Bigetron is known to not only be popular as ever, but they are also famed for having the strongest teams in all of esports. For instance, their PUBG Mobile team won PUBG Mobile World League 2020 – Season 0: East, and their newest division, League of Legends: Wild Rift roster, had just won SEA Icon Series 2021: Summer – Indonesia.

Back then, Bigetron’s League of Legends team, according to Peter, struggled in terms of team communication, although the roster composition had great individual skill sets of their own. The team had a fair share of participating in LGS Season 7 after making it through the Round Robin. Together with Teemolamon, Starlest, Venus, Tibold, and Qoui, Peter played as the team’s ADC during that season of LGS, leading to a 6th-place finish in the event.

Road to Asian Games 2018

Once the new season commenced, Peter found himself playing in a different team, known as Superamos. Superamos was the last-place finishers of the previous LGS season. In fact, they only made it to LGS 2017 Summer due to EVOS Esports deciding to not join the main event. Nonetheless, Peter’s addition into the team, together with his former teammate Venus, proved to be a crucial decision to Superamos’ upcoming performance.

In the Season Group Stage, Superamos climbed 3rd-place on the leaderboard tallying a 4-3 match result. Given their standings, Superamos received a Quarterfinals seed in the LGS 2018 Spring Playoffs. Unfortunately, their journey was quickly put to a halt after immediately losing 1-3 to Phoenix Esports. Peter and his squad had to be content with their 5th-place finish in the main event.

Post-LGS, Peter joined the ranks of Headhunters, which is amongst Indonesia’s best League of Legends team. Headhunters had just finished 2nd in LGS 2018 Spring, but decided to revamp their roster with Peter joining the lineup as ADC. It is also this very Headhunters roster that made it to the Asian Games 2018 as Indonesia’s national League of Legends representatives.

Indonesian National League of Legends Team with Faker. Source: @airliur__.

Their subsidiary ADC, cruzher, was just selected to become the national League of Legends coach. As a result, the team received a Direct Invite to the event, where they faced off against Asia’s best League of Legends teams — including the giants of South Korea and China.

Despite their lengthy preparation, the Indonesian national team failed to secure a single match victory for the country. Seeded together in the same group as Chinese Taipei, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan, the Indonesian representatives went 0-6 throughout the event. Hence, the team didn’t only fail to advance into the Playoffs, but also went home as the last-place finishers in their very hometown where the Asian Games was held.

In hindsight, Peter thinks that his Asian Games experience was the “best thing that could have ever happened, it changed how people see me and esports.” The Indonesian government and the public’s view towards esports changed drastically ever since, with the scene receiving massive support and recognition.

Entering the Land of Dawn

Peter’s loss in the Asian Games surely has impacted him in the best ways possible. Despite the team’s 0-6 run, it left a lasting legacy in the realm of Indonesian esports. After about 4 years since I last chatted with him, I had a short interview with Peter once again to talk about his latest esports career. As usual, Peter is the humble professional player that I remember him to be.

Like mentioned earlier, Peter agrees with the idea that the Asian Games changed the local esports scene forever. “Now, those people who work in the esports field are no longer underestimated. Especially in Indonesia, where the scene was previously underestimated by the public,” Peter added.

However, the Indonesian League of Legends scene was slowly crawling into its stagnancy as the game stopped receiving direct support from the publisher and developer. Because of that, Peter was faced with a critical situation of either having to stick to the game he loves, or move to a different esports title altogether, and Peter picked the latter.

In 2020, Peter made the switch to Mobile Legends, the mobile esports title that is ever so popular in the youths of Indonesia. When asked what drove him to make such a decision, Peter answered, “It’s simple, I still want to be in the competitive world. I felt that at my age, which is still relatively young, I could still compete in games whether it was based on PC or mobile.”

Aura Esports MDL Season 2 Roster. Source @mdl.indonesia.

Further, Peter never expected to see himself play Mobile Legends at such a competitive level, now that he is in the MDL. “At first I felt like I would be late if I only started to play Mobile Legends (in 2020), but because I had the opportunity to do so, I just gave it a go,” Peter explained.

Because of his prior experience playing League of Legends, a game with much greater complexity than Mobile Legends, Peter finds it easier to adapt to his new game, “I felt that I could adapt quickly and also implement some of the basic League of Legends in-game knowledge in Mobile Legends.”

According to Peter, “The basic MOBA elements are mostly the same. The most striking difference being the absence of a warding-system, so you have to be clever to ambush, while the rest remains similar.”

On the other hand, Peter finds a slight difference between playing League of Legends and Mobile Legends as a full-time professional. He felt that “Mobile Legends’ practice hours could be considered to be a bit more relaxed compared to League of Legends,” but in terms of the scene’s competitiveness, he thinks that “it’s more competitive here because there are so many competitors.”

“Improvement. I’m new to this game…”

As humble as Peter is in person, it’s fascinating to see how far he has taken his new competitive Mobile Legends journey. In only a couple of month’s time, he managed to join Aura Esports’ MDL Season 2 roster in July 2020. He’s regarded as one of the strongest players in the team, especially considering his former League of Legends competitive experience.

In Aura Esports, Peter presumed the role of the team captain and played as a Support this time around. With his team, Peter accumulated a 17-9 game-win-loss in the MDL Regular Season, securing their spot in the Playoffs. It was the premier match in the Playoffs, however, which put Peter’s MDL Season 2 run to an abrupt end.

Aura Esports was up against Siren Esports in the first match, where the two fought bravely to advance to the next match. It was Siren Esports, in the end, who had the upper hand and won 2-1 against Aura Esports. Siren Esports would continue to become the Playoffs champions later in the event.

With his journey in the MDL cut short, Peter and his team were only able to attain a 5th-8th-place finish throughout the tournament. After finishing 3rd in the Group Stage/Regular Season, it must’ve been a bitter pill to swallow such an outcome. Peter and his squad proceeded the next coming competitive season by leaving the Aura Esports organization.

Geek Fam Junior MDL Season 3 Players. @geekfamid.

To welcome the new competitive MDL Season 3, Peter and his fellow Aura teammate, Rupture, found themselves playing for Geek Fam Indonesia’s MDL division, Geek Fam Junior. As of the time of writing, MDL Season 3 had just concluded Week 4, and Geek Fam Junior has currently placed the top-8 team.

The Journey Onwards

When I asked Peter about the biggest challenges that he finds as a professional Mobile Legends player, he sharply answered, “Improvement. I’m still new to this game and I still have a lot to learn to become an even better player.”

While most MDL players are outspoken when it comes to playing in the MPL, Mobile Legend’s main league, Peter chooses to not overthink it and focus on improving himself instead, “I haven’t thought too far about it yet. No one knows what the future holds. What’s important for me is that I keep improving as a player.”

Peter with Faker in Asian Games 2018. Source: @airliur__.

As for what lies beyond Peter’s current state and onwards, it seems all-too blur and uncertain to be predicted. But what’s certain is that a player like Peter is dedicated to improving himself by placing a greater emphasis on whatever opportunities are presented to him at this very moment.

Featured Image by Peter “AirLiur” Tjahjadi.

Reminiscing the Prodigious Tale of 23savage: Southeast Asia’s Greatest Potential

When it comes to games and sports that require their players to think strategically, some people are simply built differently. In games like Chess and Go, these people are dubbed “prodigies” — extraordinary players who excel as if their DNA was meant for the game. Esports is no exception to this, especially in highly complex titles like Dota 2.

We have seen numerous players with such an outstanding capability: Miracle-, Topson, ana, you name it. These players came into the scene as a nobody and somehow managed to leave a lasting legacy throughout their careers. While the aforementioned prodigies have carved their mark in the history of Dota 2, there’s still one whose prodigious chapter is yet to be unleashed.

That person is no other than 23savage, an 18-year-old Thai player who’s currently enlisted in the roster of the South Korean organization, T1. Time and time again, we constantly witnessed how this miraculous boy magically attained the highest of Match Making Rating in the Southeast Asian server. Because of that, large organizations alike are constantly on the hunt for this young pub star.

However, 23savage’s journey hasn’t always been as smooth as many had expected. In order to achieve where he is now, 23savage had to start small and begin his journey in his homeland: Thailand.

Chapter 1: Homeland

23savage began his competitive Dota 2 career with a local team called ALPHA Blue, a subsidiary roster to the main organization ALPHA Pro Team. 23savage was only 16 years old when he kickstarted his journey in 2018 together with other Thai senior players as his teammates. The roster didn’t hold for long, as 23savage was only enlisted officially for only four days.

Several ALPHA Blue players decided to depart the organization and join a team called Reaper, whose roster became the basis of the establishment of MSCerberus. The initial lineup consisted of Thai players Whatthe, tnt, Feimao, 23savage, as well as the Laotian player, Nevermine.

Before the team could make their international debut, they had to undergo several roster changes due to the retirement of their captain, Feimao, and the departure of Whatthe. Catering to the vacant slots, MSCerberus enlisted the help of the Filipino player RAN, the Malaysian player ADTR, and a secondary Thai Offlaner Seri.

MSCerberus’ first recorded international debut was in Sin Esports Dota 2 League Season 1, where they faced off against other Southeast Asian underdogs. MSCerberus and 23savage managed to qualify to the event’s Upper Bracket Semifinals, but had to fall to the Lower Bracket after losing 0-2 against Neon Esports and was later eliminated by PG.Orca.

MSCerberus. Source: MS Chonburi Dota 2’s Facebook Page.

Despite their loss, 23savage’s major potential began to take place in the international scene. His signature heroes like Morphling and Juggernaut put up a great fight against the Filipinos, proving that he’s capable of playing on such a high-stake event.

Unfortunately, the team struggled to secure a commendable victory in the events that followed after. It surely was difficult to cope up against older organizations whose roster are much more stable and had greater international experience. As a result, 23savage took the opportunity to further explore the international scene by becoming a stand-in player for neighboring teams.

Chapter 2: Standing on the Shoulder of Giants

To obtain greater exposure, 23savage played as a stand-in substitute for teams like the Filipino squad of Clutch Gamers and the Indonesian roster of EVOS Esports. He did so while going into inactivity with his main team MSCerberus. Although his addition wasn’t enough to bring home the trophy, the experience was enough to gain recognition from other more established organizations.

Furthermore, 23savage had the chance to represent Thailand in World Cyber Games 2019 APAC. Accompanying him in this competition are other senior players Jabz, Seri, BungsellRotee, and tnt. Initially, the team played under the name of Thai Style, before finally playing under the banner of MSCerberus TH during the offline Finals held in Seoul.

With this temporary roster, the squad secured a second-place finish, bringing home $1500 as a prize. Once the event ended, 23savage spent some more time with his main team before deciding to try out with other teams and officially go inactive in MSCerberus, which rebranded to MS Chonburi not so long ago.

It was perhaps 23savage’s visit to South Korea where he decided to pair up with three veteran South Korean players, Forev, Febby, and March, for The International 2019: Southeast Asia Open Qualifier. To complete the lineup, Team Jinesbrus summon the aid of another prodigy player from the United States, Gunnar.

Team Jinesbrus. Source: Dota 2 Thailand.

Jinesbrus was utterly dominating the entire bracket, losing close to zero games throughout the Open Qualifiers. They were among the three teams which qualified for the Southeast Asian Closed Qualifiers of TI9.

In the Group Stage, Jinesbrus remained unstoppable, dropping only a single best-of-one loss against Team Amplify. As for the other matches, their playstyle is famous for being fierce and aggressive, essentially reminiscent of the olden days of MVP Phoenix. Surely enough, three out of five of their players were MVP Phoenix players, so that shouldn’t be surprising.

However, their Playoffs bracket started badly, losing 0-2 to Mineski right off the bat. Nonetheless, Jinesbrus and 23savage persisted through the Lower Bracket, eliminating Team Amplify and Team Adroit in the process. Again, they faced off against Mineski in the Grand Finals, with an even higher stake. Whoever wins the series secures their ticket to the most prestigious Dota 2 event of all: The International.

We could go over all the games that took place in the intense best-of-five series, but to sum it up, it kept everyone on the edge of their seats. The first four games went back-and-forth between these two rivals. The two teams took turns which ultimately led up to a 2-2 score and a deciding game five.

Chapter 3: So Close, Yet So Far

The deciding match kicked off almost evenly, with Jinesbrus securing a minimal 2000 gold-lead. At about the 30-minute-mark, Mineski wiped the entire roster of Jinesbrus, snowballing the advantage to their hands this time around. It was this point onwards that Jinesbrus was hanging on their last TI9 lifeline.

Sadly for the boys, Mineski had the upper hand in that match, and so ends their hopeful TI9 run of the year. Arguably, 23savage’s run with Jinesbrus was the best achievement thus far in his career. As much as he and his teammates failed to secure their victory, joining Jinesbrus was the leap 23savage required to enter the realm of giants, marking the commencement of his next competitive chapter.

23savage’s respectable TI9 attempt catapulted him into popularity and the international spotlight. As many had predicted, the Southeast Asian giant Fnatic quickly incorporated him into their main roster. On September 4, 2019, 23savage joined the ranks of Moon, iceiceice, DJ, and fellow Thai player Jabz. Together, the revamped Fnatic roster was ready to shake up the Southeast Asian stage.

They wasted no time to achieve such a title, by not only finishing second in Midas Mode 2 – Asia, but also qualifying for MDL Chengdu Major and DreamLeague Season 13.

Thailand’s Dota 2 Representatives at the 30th Southeast Asian Games. Source: Nation Thailand.

Amid these qualifiers, 23savage had another chance to represent his nation in the 30th Southeast Asian Games where the Thais finished second. It was also during this event where 23savage could once again pair up with his former MSCerberus teammates and the new contenders of MG.Trust.

Chapter 4: Fnatic’s Rise to Glory

After successfully qualifying for these Major events, Fnatic, in fact, struggled in these first few international events, perhaps due to adaptation reasons. In MDL Chengdu Major and DreamLeague Season 13, they finished 9th-12th in both events, losing out to their Southeast Asian counterparts, TNC Predator.

Fnatic winning Summit 12. Source: Beyond the Summit.

Before they could shine on the international stage, however, the COVID pandemic took place and halted virtually all international LAN events, including today. Nevertheless, several tournament organizers decided to shift their events online and divide participating teams into their respective regions.

Back in their region, Fnatic became the new Southeast Asian giants. They came out as champions in Summit 12, BTS Pro Series: Southeast Asia, ESL One Birmingham 2020 – Online: Southeast Asia, and World E-sports Legendary League. Afterward, they finished third in BTS Pro Series Season 2: Southeast Asia and second in ONE Esports Dota 2 SEA League thereafter.

It was quite evident that Fnatic was pretty much unstoppable in their region, and not even the best teams around could overthrow their throne. 23savage displayed his marvelous Position 1 carrying abilities throughout these events and truly proven that the mix of seniors and newcomers is amongst the strongest strategy in all of Dota 2.

For the young Thai, it seemed that his career was pretty much on the right track. It was until Fnatic abruptly decided to replace their new-found prodigy with a more stable veteran and senior Position 1 player, Raven. Only a week after their run in ONE Esports Dota 2 SEA League ended, 23savage’s Fnatic chapter is brought to an end.

Chapter 5: Auspicious Vici

Now teamless, 23savage became a hot target for big organizations willing to integrate this prodigy from Southeast Asia into their mix. Many were expecting teams from around the globe to add 23savage into their lineup, including Western teams who were open for such a ride. It was Vici Gaming, in the end, who picked up 23savage in replacement of their star Carry Eurus.

At first, the pasture seemed all too green for 23savage. His removal from Fnatic was a mere pinch while his purchase by Vici Gaming meant a huge leap in his career. Even so, because of the COVID19 travel restrictions, 23savage had to wait for his time to shine. As a temporary replacement of 23savage, Vici Gaming summoned the help of Erica while hoping for a better COVID situation.

For the time being, 23savage continued to stand-in for several casual teams such as Among Us and the newly formed Thai squad MG.Trust. With Among Us, 23savage attained a third-place finish in BTS Pro Series Season 3: Southeast Asia, even beating Fnatic, his former team, in the process.

Team Among Us Dota 2 Roster. Source: Team Among Us.

What else could go wrong for 23savage? He is performing relatively well in these casual teams, while an organization like Vici Gaming is waiting for his arrival. Well, that’s the case until Vici Gaming decided to part ways with 23savage without even playing a single match together with him. Although the main reason is likely due to the worsening of the global COVID situation, Vici Gaming seemed all-too comfortable with Erica, given their achievements without 23savage.

Chapter 6: T1 Onwards

After what seems to be a fresh start to a bitter end, 23savage finds himself teamless once again, with a similar aftertaste. With the Dota Pro Circuit Regional Leagues taking place and 23savage still teamless, all he’s open for is stand-in opportunities.

Unsurprisingly, his assistance was called upon by the Indonesian-Thai-Korean roster of HOYO for DPC Season 1 – Southeast Asia Lower Division and later by the Indonesian squad of BOOM Esports for DPC Season 1 – Southeast Asia Upper Division.

Thereafter, participating DPC teams were looking to alter their rosters, especially for those who qualified through the Major. In the end, it’s the South Korean giant of T1 who decided to add 23savage into their mix, replacing their former Carry player, JaCkky.

T1 welcomes 23savage. Source: @T1 Twitter.

Regardless of whether or not the move was deemed ethical, it seemed logical that T1 would do such a critical move. T1 barely qualified for the Major Wild Card, and their best bet is to go all-in if they’d like to advance further, one of which is by purchasing a star player like 23savage himself.

Closing

Together with four former Geek Fam players, 23savage and his new shiny T1 squad are expected to put up a powerful battle in the premiere 2021 Dota 2 LAN Event, ONE Esports Singapore Major 2021. From this point onwards, what lies in the next chapters of 23savage’s career is nothing but a wild guess.

Featured Image by Dreamhack.

M2 World Championship META Analysis

Mobile Legends Bang Bang’s most prestigious tournament, M2 World Championship, may have ended, but the exciting memories that trail will forever be remembered. But it’s not just the adrenaline-filled games that we could talk endlessly about, we can learn a lot just by seeing which heroes were constantly picked, banned, and had amazing outcomes.

It’s apparent that some heroes became favorites of almost all teams, being constantly competed and even attained respect-bans from the world’s best teams around. What may be the reason behind such trends? Does the M2 META reflect where the game’s strongest potential lie?

In this article, we shall explore some of the most notable heroes, starting with the most picked, most banned, highest win rates, as well as the hero with the highest GPM throughout. Moreover, we will find out which player achieved the greatest number of kills during M2.

Most Picked Heroes

The following are the three most picked heroes throughout M2 World Championship. Multiple aspects contribute to the heavy favoritism towards these heroes, ranging from being an overall good and stable pick, to being an all-time powerful hero.

Lapu-Lapu

Since his revamp in the last patch, Lapu-Lapu became a top favorite pick among players in Ranked Matches and professional tournaments alike. In M2 alone, he was picked 40 times and had a pick rate of 58%.

Lapu-Lapu’s modified Ultimate Skill and Passive Skill is just too strong in the current META, especially against heavy Crowd-control Effects which is essentially the mainstream. The damage he can provide is also a threat to anyone he is going to face on the Offlane. Lapu-Lapu is almost good for every circumstance no matter what heroes the enemy’s team is going to be picking.

Lapu-Lapu. Source: Mobile Legends Bang Bang.

The Courageous Blade hero is virtually a complete hero, where he can provide Crowd-control Effects, a decent amount of consistent damage output from the early-to-late game, has Crowd-control Immunity from his Ultimate, has great durability from his Passive, as well as mobility from his second skill and at times of urgency. Indeed, Lapu-Lapu is a hero that anyone could definitely benefit from.

Nevertheless, some items could be used to counter this hero like Antique Cuirass as Lapu-Lapu relies on his Basic Attack at times. Another item to counter him during the late-game is either Sea Halberd or Necklace of Durance. These help to reduce 50% of his HP (Health Point) Regeneration from his skills, so he wouldn’t be able to survive for too long during team fights.

Chou is also a great counter-pick to Lapu-Lapu thanks to his Ultimate, The Way Of Dragon, that could set Lapu-Lapu asleep.

Benedetta

Benedetta is by far one of the strongest Assassins in the game, securing a 54% pick rate in M2 and was played 37 times. Her strongest ability is how versatile the hero is as she could be utilized in either the Gold Lane or the Experience Lane, even as a Hyper Carry in some cases.

She is indeed one of the most mobile heroes in the game, due to her Passive Skill, allowing her to Dash without using up any of her Mana. Furthermore, today’s META heroes have one thing in common: Crowd-control Immunity. You name it, heroes like Yi Sun-Shin, Lapu-Lapu, Chou, and many others share this similarity.

Benedetta counteracts such an ability with her second skill, An Eye For An Eye, by dodging Crowd-control effects. Likewise, it could double as a counter-attack thanks to its stunning capability.

For now, Benedetta is a very safe pick for most situations, but there is one hero that could stop her: Silvanna. Silvanna is an absolutely perfect counter against Benedetta, as her Ultimate Skill will be inescapable unless with help of the Purify Battle Spell. However, that is very unlikely to happen because Benedetta is most effective with the Execute Battle Spell.

Items like Antique Cuirass could also be used to counter her damage output, as well as Dominance Ice to slow her Movement Speed for means of chasing this agile hero.

Yu Zhong

Since his premiere arrival into the Land of Dawn, Yu Zhong has never left the META. Despite the nerfs that he got in the recent patches, he is still one of the top priority picks in Ranked Matches as well as tournaments. Such a trend is evident by his 51% pick rate in M2 where the hero was picked 35 times.

It’s safe to say that Yu Zhong is by far one of the most annoying Offlaners the game has ever had. His Passive Skill allows him to drain his enemy’s HP and regenerates his own, making it really hard to survive against him in the early-to-mid game. Another plus point that this Black Fierce Dragon has is his Ultimate’s Crowd-control Immunity, transforming him into a literal beast in team fights.

However, Yu Zhong is only very strong when going against Melee heroes. When it comes to dealing with Marksmen in the early-game, it’s quite challenging for him to remain dominant. Some great counter-picks include Wanwan and Claude, while items like Sea Halberd and Necklace of Durance assists in nullifying his HP Regeneration from his skills.

Most Banned Heroes

While the previous section discussed heroes that are frequently picked, others aren’t as fortunate. These heroes get constantly banned due to how dangerous it might be if ever set loose. However, there are items and heroes which could help counter these deadly heroes in the case of urgency.

Natalia

Natalia is the top banned hero for a good reason: her invisibility and silence ability. Basically, she is a rotation destroyer, disrupting the enemy team’s rotation by targetting the opposing Main Hyper Core. In M2 alone, she has an 88% ban rate, tallying a total of 61 ban-counts.

In today’s META, the Hyper Core will often be farming the Jungle monsters on their own and that is where Natalia comes to play by disturbing and possibly killing the hero. While the Hyper Core is struggling to get their crucial items, Natalia can come online earlier than they do. Simply put, she is the current META destroyer and is banned so that neither team will have the advantage against the other.

Natalia. Source: Mobile Legends Bang Bang.

Natalia is the only hero that can totally disrupt the present Hyper Core’s efficient ways of farming. Even if Natalia is not near enemy heroes, they still need to pay greater attention and thus require them to farm in a safer, yet slower, farming area. In the parallel world of Dota 2, Natalia is Riki, except she can snowball very early on.

Natalia is always used as a Support as it is the best position she could be tasked in. Effective counter-items against Natalia include Cursed Helmet, which is especially beneficial for Tank heroes to detect Natalia’s position. While for the squishy heroes like Mages and Marksmen, Antique Cuirass and Twilight Armor can be used to nullify her damage to avoid getting one-shotted.

Brody

Ever since his recent adjustment in the latest patch, Brody became a must-ban in almost every game. Trailing slightly below Natalia, Brody had an 84% ban rate in M2 and was banned 58 times. What makes this hero a must-ban, given that the new patch made him a different beast?

Before his buff, Brody was indeed strong during the early-game but struggled as the game progressed into the later stages of the game. What allowed him to re-enter the META is his increased Damage Growth per Level, making him all too powerful.

If you’re an older player, you might recall a similar characteristic to that of the good old Granger. Brody only requires a Blade of Despair, along with an Endless Battle to deal a significant amount of damage.

Despite such potential, Brody still isn’t the game’s best Hyper Core due to the lack of mobility. At the same time, Brody has a Stunning Skill while most Marksmen alike do not possess it. Plus, like Benedetta, Silvanna is a good counter against Brody due to her ability to further reduce his mobility and enter into a melee-distanced skirmish.

Otherwise, Chou could also be a very good counter against this must-ban hero, especially during the late-game. Items such as Dominance Ice, Antique Cuirass, and Twilight Armor are all great defensive items to counter Brody’s massive damage output.

Esmeralda

It’s actually no surprise to see this Astrologer remain as a top banned hero in this current META, despite receiving a multitude of nerfs in the last few patches. With a ban rate of 78% in M2, this hero was removed from the draft 54 times.

Aside from being one of the most durable heroes in the game, Esmeralda’s most annoying factor is causing her enemies to reconsider purchasing an Athena Shield. Although the item provides an additional shield for defensive purposes, Esmeralda can easily suck up all the shield to her advantage, translating a huge loss for the enemy team.

Esmeralda. Source: Mobile Legends Bang Bang.

What that means during the drafting phase is that whoever gets to play Esmeralda could easily outweigh the opposing team’s Magic Damage output — given that the hero is not banned for some reason.

Furthermore, Esmeralda can be utilized as a Hyper Core in the Mid Lane but is most effective when placed in the Gold or Experience Lane. Experience Lane is nonetheless more preferable as she struggles to man-fight Marksmen heroes which typically appear on the Gold Lane.

Wanwan, for instance, is the absolute perfect counter during the early-game. Like Yu Zhong, Esmeralda struggles to deal with Marksman heroes. Items like Sea Halberd and Necklace of Durance helps to counter her High HP Regeneration and Oracle is a great option to nullify her Magic Damage.

Heroes with Highest Win Rate

As much as there are heroes who get constantly picked, they might not be the best heroes to win the match nonetheless. Some heroes get picked rarely, but is proven to be amongst the most effective heroes during M2. The following are three heroes with the highest win rate, where the hero is picked at least 10 times.

Claude

Claude is the most successful hero throughout M2 for a specific reason: late-game advantage. With a whopping 71% win rate, Claude was picked for 31 times, that’s 22 wins in total. In fact, her 71% win rate is right below Diggie’s, Rafaela’s, Balmond’s, and Uranus’s 100% win rate, but they’re all played for less than 5 times.

Unlike other Marksmen or Assassins, Claude is by far the strongest late-game hero as long as you can keep his stack alive. Due to this, Claude requires great mastery of micro and micro knowledge in order to not only maintain a stack, but also to time his Ultimate perfectly.

His Passive Skill, Battle Side-By-Side, gives Claude the edge above all other Marksmen and Assassins alike, further strengthening the hero especially when facing enemy cores with a complete set of items.

In a nutshell, Claude’s Passive is like a bonus item that allows him to be a better late-game performer. That means, when the enemy core has a maximum of 6 items, Claude virtually has 7 items plus his 10-stack Passive.

Claude. Source: Mobile Legends Bang Bang.

Claude is certainly versatile in terms of choosing between becoming a Hyper Core or a Sidelaner, but it all boils down to which Hyper Core and Gold Laner the enemy team drafts. Players like Bren Esports’ Karltzy, Burmese Ghouls’ ACE, and RRQ Hoshi’s XINNN has displayed wondrous plays with Claude during M2.

Nevertheless, their builds do not differ as much. Items like Magic Shoes, Demon Hunter Sword, and Golden Staffs are mandatory, while the rest of the slots depend on what the situation calls for.

On the other hand, the Assassin Emblem along with the Killing Spree talent is the standard for whichever lane Claude is placed in. Otherwise, the Support Emblem could be its substitute to provide greater Mana Regeneration for Gold Laner Claude.

Atlas

Atlas made an unexpected return in M2 and is more often used during the Playoffs stage of the tournament. The Ocean Gladiator was picked 10 times, banned 9 times, and had a win rate of 70%. Such a commendable win rate is due to Atlas’ game-changing Ultimate Skill which could be the key to winning a major team-fight.

In this META, however, Atlas is somewhat underwhelming when it comes to invading enemy Jungle — a practice which many players still constantly do today. Yet the hero remains as a comfort pick for a few participating players of M2, such as Burmese Ghouls’ MayBe and Bren Esports’ Lusty. They both executed Atlas’ style of gameplay perfectly and secured multiple victories with this hero.

The Support Emblem goes well with this hero, providing extra Cooldown Reduction and further allows Atlas to spam his Ultimate Skill. There isn’t a de facto item build when it comes to Atlas as it depends on what counters are present in the enemy team. However, Fleeting Time remains compulsory to further reduce his Ultimate Skill, Fatal Links.

Alice

Unlike Atlas, Alice has been a favorite among professional players since MPLI Season 2 and numerous teams started to utilize her as an Offlaner ever since. Played 19 times in M2, Alice attained a respectable 68% win rate.

In the early-game, Alice isn’t as strong until she gets an Enchanted Talisman. With that one item, she could easily destroy any minion waves efficiently and obtain HP Regeneration by doing so.

Alice. Source: Mobile Legends Bang Bang.

Like Yu Zhong and Esmeralda, Alice doesn’t perform well against Marksman heroes during the laning phase. But as soon as she gets her Ultimate Skill, she can utterly dominate the lane. Despite not being able to take down the enemy team’s Marksman easily, she can quickly fly away with her first skill and avoid getting ganked.

Notable players of Alice include Bren Esports’ Ribo and RRQ Hoshi’s Wizzking, both of which may utilize the hero in either the Gold Lane or the Experience Lane. When it comes to the Emblem of choice, the Mage or the Support Emblem could come in handy. Demon Shoes and Enchanted Talisman are necessary for Alice’s early laning stages and rotations.

Top Kill

When it comes to finding out which hero had the greatest number of kills throughout M2, you’ll gradually conclude that one player racked up the top three on the leaderboard. And that player is no other than the Grand Finals MVP, Bren Esports’ Karltzy.

Karltzy has proven that he’s the world’s best Core in competitive Mobile Legends. He’s not only talented in terms of hero versatility, but also how he flawlessly executed heroes in different playstyles that the game calls for. His top three kills are as follows: 16 kills as Lancelot against Alter Ego, 13 kills as Harley against Omega PH, and another 13 kills as Lancelot against RRQ Hoshi.

Bren Esports’ Karltzy. Source: @mpl.id.official.

What then, enables Karltzy to achieve such a notable title? Aside from his undoubtedly excellent gameplay, the rest of Bren Esports paved the way by making impactful plays. For instance, Bren’s Offlaner Flaptzy plays a hero like Baxia, serving as a Secondary Tank whilst Supporting and providing the upper-hand kill-advantage for Karltzy.

But this isn’t always the case, especially when Karltzy opts for his key heroes like Lancelot and Harley. These require him to be more independent and steady to solo pick-off enemy heroes. In either case, Bren’s mindful draft consistently synergizes with Karltzy’s, and vice versa.

Like Karltzy, a good Hyper Core should survive and farm independently, before transforming into an unstoppable, late-game beast.

Top GPM

Like the Top Kill leaderboard, there’s a hero that becomes the highlight of this title: Yi Sun-Shin. The Paenlong Legend excels at gaining gold thanks to its player’s farming pattern, as well as the hero’s characteristic itself. Do realize that getting gold earlier than the enemy could mean a lot, especially when it comes to competing against the enemy’s Core and securing key items as soon as possible.

The reason behind Yi Sun-Shin’s highlight in M2 is because of his ability to farm with high efficiency and casually take objectives like Turrets and Turtles. What allows such a speed is Yi Sun-Shing’s Critical Damage ability — a skill which not all heroes possess.

After his last revamp that made him META relevant, Yi Sun-Shin can proc 100% Critical Damage most of the time, if not every single time for both farming and objective purposes as discussed previously.

Yi Sun-Shin. Source: Mobile Legends Bang Bang.

Another plus point of Yi Sun-Shin is his Ultimate Skill, Mountain Shocker. With it, Yi Sun-Shin could still get easy assist-counts even if he’s not present during the team-fight. That means, without jeopardizing his life, Yi Sun-Shin could still gain as many assists as a typical Tank or Support would.

The general playstyle for Yi Sun-Shin is usually starting the game off by taking both buffs and rotating to either the Top Lane or the Bottom Lane to get the Gold Buff. Then, as soon as he hits Level 4, he can definitely try to gank the lane that he’s at.

One major mistake which Yi Sun-Shin beginners often commit is not using his Passive efficiently. His Passive Heavenly Vow is very crucial because Yi Sun-Shin depends wholly on the skill to deal a significant amount of damage. Without it, Yi Sun-Shin could easily lose team-fights because of how irrelevant he will be.

The top three GPM leads in M2 were all secured by Yi Sun-Shin. At first-place is Karltzy with a 990 GPM rate, followed by Omega PH’s Hadjizy at 986 GPM, and finally Todak’s Ciku at 979 GPM.

Cover Image by Mobile Legends Bang Bang.

M2 World Championship Playoffs Analyses: A Tale of Twists and Turns

After weeks of preparation, quarantine session, and a great show of team fighting skills, the M2 World Championship has finally come to an end, crowning the latest, world’s best team in Mobile Legends Bang Bang. More importantly, M2 marks the end of an era for multiple recurring themes, ranging from the newly crowned champions to those who retired with a quite bitter aftertaste.

Like a roller coaster, this event is filled with the most amusing moments, epic skirmishes, unexpected victors, and upsetting results — at least to some. Nonetheless, M2 proved that the weirdest, most absurd strategies, could very well be a death-blow, or a dangerous backfire when used incorrectly.

Should the competitive Mobile Legends scene continue after M2, there sure will be many improvements to be made and lessons to be learned, for this event is unlike what most had in mind.

Chapter 1: A Shaky Beginning

Coming into the Playoffs stage of M2, most viewers thought this tournament was going to be a breeze for the favourites like RRQ Hoshi, Alter Ego, and Bren Esports. This wave of predictions was indeed reasonable, especially seeing how these three teams performed in the Group Stage.

Even before the tournament commenced, multiple teams viewed these three teams as the toughest opponents to face. For instance, the Japanese representative from team 10 Second Gaming Frost, Obuyan, admits that “out of all the regions he has played against, Indonesia is number one.”

10 Second Gaming Frost. Source: @10sgamingfrost.

Aside from Obuyan, members of other teams similarly shared the same perspective towards these top MPL teams. Given how experienced these teams are and how individually skilled their players are, it’s no surprise that they came in as favorites of the tournaments.

Day 1 of the Playoffs started with the Lower Bracket matches, where, unfortunately, Obuyan and the rest of his squad are the ones who got eliminated first from the Playoffs. 10s Gaming lost against the giants of Alter Ego in a 0-2 match outcome.

If anything, 10s Gaming’s elimination showed how crucial prior MPL (Mobile Legends Professional League) experience really is — a system which the Japanese scene presently lacks.

This point was further emphasized by the very player that crippled 10s Gaming and forced them to leave the tournament early. After their victory, Alter Ego’s Udil shared his thoughts regarding the evident skill gap between teams with the MPL system and those who don’t.

In his opinion, “the Indonesian Mobile Legends scene implements a franchising MPL system, receives tons of excitement and support from the Indonesian fans, and thus have a more competitive scene.” These factors help contribute to the constant advancement of the Indonesian teams, which undoubtedly are one of the best when it comes to Mobile Legends.

Furthermore, the Singaporean fans had to swallow a bitter pill as they witnessed the only remaining Singaporean representative lose to the Malaysian counterparts once again. EVOS SG had their second chance of taking down Todak, a rival team which they lost to in the Grand Finals of MPL MY/SG Season 6.

EVOS SG Roster in M2. Source: @evos.sgmy.

Unfortunately, history repeated itself, and EVOS SG lost 0-2 against the Malaysian squad. Being their last tournament together as a roster, it was certainly a heavy blow to the Lions, especially being the home team in M2. As much as their disbandment could’ve ended with a sweet tone, EVOS SG didn’t have the upper hand on that day.

Portraying the melancholy of the Malaysian/Singaporean fans after seeing EVOS SG depart from M2, Gideon “GideonQ” Khew shared his thoughts regarding the matter. Being part of the M2 caster lineup himself, Gideon said that he didn’t expect this at all.

However, Gideon added, “how can you tell with a competition like this? Their best-of-three against RRQ in the Group Stages was an extremely impressive showing. Some of the best I have seen from them and what’s worse is that this is their last run. So it’s truly heartbreaking to see them go like this, especially against another MY/SG representative.”

Nonetheless, this was somewhat expected considering how far ahead the other competitive scene has developed compared to the Singaporean scene. M2 analyst, Caisam “Wolf” Yvez Nopueto, pointed out that he “doesn’t mean it in a bad way, but Indonesia’s and Philippines’ metagame is a little ahead. Then you have surprises like that of Myanmar. These regions are playing more Mobile Legends, so it looks like.”

Chapter 2: Rise of the Ghouls

On the other hand, the Upper Bracket matches told quite a different tale. Like Wolf hinted, the roster of Burmese Ghouls gave a pleasant surprise for the viewers back home. Burmese Ghouls was heavily underlooked by viewers and other teams alike, as they had very little exposure in the international scene.

In the same fashion, the Burmese MPL scene is, in fact, the youngest out of all MPL scenes. Despite their competitive age, ACE and his teammates managed to deliver unexpected results since their first Playoffs match against Bren Esports.

This element of surprise in the Playoffs is further enhanced knowing that Burmese Ghouls did not face any favorites during the Group Stage. Many viewers dubbed Group A as “the easy group,” unlike Groups C and D which were dubbed as “hell groups.”

Burmese Ghouls. Source: @burmese_ghouls.

What happened next pretty much carved the pathway for Burmese Ghouls for the rest of M2. They took down Bren Esports 2-0 mercilessly, with a unique, one-of-a-kind META that would later scare the remaining teams.

When asked about their opinion regarding Bren Esports’ strengths as a team after successfully conquering the Filipino squad, Burmese Ghouls’ Dee explained that, “they’re good. They got good teamwork, good composition, and good individual skills; but it’s just we’re better than them.” Little did we know that this rivalry would continue down the line.

Witnessing this potential cinderella-run from the Burmese squad, Gideon said, “I think most people counted them out. However, a lot of talk in the pro scene revolved around them and many are even worried about Burmese Ghouls. Something was known about them that the public wasn’t entirely sure about.”

Further, caster Gideon added, “once their showing against Bren in the groups happened, the question became ‘how high is their ceiling?’ more than ‘are they capable?’ I have always considered them a dark horse, a team that had immense potential. Not to mention that I said in M1 that this team was something to watch out for, just give them a year.”

Burmese Ghouls’ Mindful Tactics

Among Burmese Ghouls’ strengths lie their insanely large hero pool and how elegantly they can orchestrate the weirdest of hero combinations. In the first game, for example, Burmese Ghouls drafted a clever combination of Lunox and Mathilda, utilized as a Support in the Midlane and a Sidelaner respectively.

It has been quite a while since Lunox is used as a Sidelaner since it was last nerfed in the recent patches. Despite the nerf, she is intended to counter Bren’s Baxia since Lunox has high Magic Damage Penetration skills to win duels against Baxia. Lunox could also clear minion waves relatively faster than Baxia, which helps to counter Baxia’s free-roaming capabilities. Lunox proves to be an excellent pick for Burmese Ghouls as they won the game.

Secondly, an even more peculiar decision was made by the Burmese squad. They chose not to opt for any pure Tankers at all and played a double-support lineup consisting of Diggie and Selena instead. Also, they picked Sidelane Jawhead which was intended to counter-pick Bren’s Wanwan. These three heroes were the key behind Burmese Ghouls’ victory over Bren in the Upper Bracket match.

Diggie. Source: Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.

Most notably, Diggie’s Ultimate Skill offers Crowd-control Immunity, Bonus Shield, as well as Movement Speed to help the team survive against Bren’s high Crowd-control Effects from heroes like Silvanna, Lapu-Lapu, and Pharsa. If you play Dota 2, it’s as if you had Abaddon’s Aphotic Shield in your team, except the skill affects an area rather than a single target. The Diggie pick would remain problematic for the rest of M2 and became one of Burmese Ghouls’ scariest draft.

Analyst Wolf surely became a fan after watching Burmese Ghouls’ match against Bren Esports. The sharp analyst “loves smart approaches to Esports” like that of ACE and his squad, and said that “Burmese Ghouls as a whole franchise is so far the best tacticians in M2!”

Chapter 3: Persistence of The Giants

While the new kid on the block is racking up popularity and winning unfavorable matches, the giants remain persistent nonetheless. RRQ Hoshi continued the Upper Bracket matches by facing up against Omega PH Esports. Being the entitled King of Kings that they are, RRQ Hoshi secured a 2-0 victory with ease.

They did so by invoking one of the oldest tricks in the book: a duet between Rafaela and Bruno. Alongside the pocket strategy, RRQ Hoshi drafted Midlane Silvanna, Offlane Khaleed, and Belerick on the Sidelane. It’s safe to say that RRQ really did showcase their large hero pool potential through this game.

Alberttt‘s Bruno is a Mid-to-Late-game monster because of the damage that he can deal from his first Skil, Volley Shot. His glass-cannon characteristic is further layered by Psychoo’s Rafaela which provides Alberttt with vital durability, as well as extra Movement Speed to chase down enemies. The lineup was so perfect to counter Omega’s draft as RRQ Hoshi finished the game in just 10 minutes.

Like RRQ Hoshi, both Alter Ego and Bren Esports remained persistent despite falling down to the Lower Bracket. Alter Ego commenced Playoffs Day 2 with a clean 2-0 finish against Omega PH, while Bren Esports had to struggle before attaining a 2-1 victory over Todak.

Although Bren Esports would eventually close the match in their favor, Todak held up a good fight and displayed their unique-drafting capability. In Game 1, for instance, Todak’s Moon utilized Gatotkaca as a Support to complement Ciku’s Wanwan. Interestingly, they won this round despite the odd selection.

Unfortunately, Todak could not simply rinse and repeat the same ending in the second game, where they drafted a 4-Tanker lineup. Todak opted for Baxia, Esmeralda, Gatotkaca, and Belerick, together with a Hyper-core Hayabusa. This odd draft quickly backfired as Todak struggled to produce adequate damage in the later stages of the game, depending fully on the Hayabusa.

Gatotkaca. Source: Mobile Legends Bang Bang.

Moreover, Todak did not have a Ranged Attacker which is detrimental when sieging the high-ground. Bren, on the other end, has Claude and Selena on their side for a much greater high-ground advantage. With this visible weakness in the side of Todak, Bren tied the match 1-1 and would later secure the match in their favor.

Chapter 4: Dethroning of The King

What ensued after these Lower Bracket matches was a showdown between the Kings and the Ghouls. Judging from how Burmese Ghouls utterly crushed Bren Esports, it looked like RRQ Hoshi had a very minimal chance of taking down this up and coming squad.

The best-of-five series was nothing but intense and placed viewers on the edge of their seats. Both teams are known to have a similar style of drafting, but Burmese Ghouls have shown how they could take their hero versatility to the next level.

Plus, Burmese Ghouls’ style is like a mix of RRQ Hoshi’s and Alter Ego’s. Their drafting flexibility is parallel to RRQ Hoshi’s, but they incorporate it with Alter Ego’s style of aggressive, early-game centric, way of juggling. Burmese Ghouls took the best of both worlds and topped it off with Myanmar’s META.

The first two matches reinstated how deadly Burmese Ghouls’ Diggie can get. RRQ Hoshi failed to cater to this issue in the first game and decided to go the unpopular route of not respect-banning the hero in the second game. This would quickly backfire as Burmese Ghouls could easily recover from almost every Crowd-controlling Effect RRQ Hoshi attempted to utilize during team fights, thanks to Diggie.

It was only starting the third game where RRQ Hoshi finally decided to respect-ban Diggie. And surely, this paid off as the Kings managed to withhold the rage of the Ghouls and defended their throne in games three and four. The series pulled to a game five where the make-or-break moment took place.

RRQ Hoshi’s Lemon, being the Lemon that he’s known for, picked a hero that he thought might be useful despite rarely being used the META. The hero is Minsitthar, who Lemon picked to counter Burmese Ghouls’ Harith and his high mobility.

Minsitthar. Source: Mobile Legends Bang Bang.

Yet again, Burmese Ghouls just outclassed RRQ Hoshi in terms of gameplay and winning team fights. Lemon’s Minsitthar proved to not be as impactful in the game, compared to Ruby DD’s unstoppable Harith. The sole use of Minsitthar was to counter Harith, and since that didn’t work as planned, the rest of Burmese Ghouls’ heroes toppled the Indonesian roster.

As a result, the game ended very quickly in an anti-climactic manner, dethroning the Kings of RRQ Hoshi to the Lower Bracket. If the Ghouls could take down Bren, and sweep RRQ Hoshi down the drain, who then could stop them?

Chapter 5: Bren Takes Two

When the TI7 Champion, Amer “Miracle-” Al-Barkawi, said that the Upper Bracket route is for the weak, Bren took that statement and lived up to it. Now that they are in the Lower Bracket, the Filipino squad has to overcome not one, but two, Indonesian teams in order to advance to the Grand Finals of M2.

Bren began their tough journey against their destined rival, Alter Ego. Earlier in the Group Stage, the Filipino shattered Alter Ego’s clean run with a 2-0 victory and felt very confident after their well deserved victory. As the two met once again in the Lower Bracket playoffs, the stake is much greater than ever.

Alter Ego took no time to express their confidence over Bren by conquering the first round of the match cleanly. Leomurphy’s Chou became the highlight of the match as the Kung-Fu boy turned Houdini dodged bullets left and right, avoiding death time after time. With ease, Alter Ego secured the game and entered the second match with great conviction.

However, as the saying goes “overconfidence precedes carelessness,” Alter Ego overstepped their welcome in game two. Despite having a slight advantage in the early stages of the game, Bren remained cool and ignored much of Alter Ego’s taunting tactics. As the game proceeds, Alter Ego lost their grip on the game and eventually lost the round.

With the third game coming into position, Bren has enough momentum from their recent victory while Alter Ego lost much of their earlier confidence. Unsurprisingly, the Filipino squad continued their streak over Alter Ego and eliminated their rivals from M2. Only three teams remain in the tournament: Bren Esports, RRQ Hoshi, and Burmese Ghouls.

RRQ Hoshi and Alter Ego. Source: @mpl.id.official.

The final day of M2 kicked off with a best-of-five series between Bren and RRQ Hoshi. Interestingly, RRQ Hoshi decided to bench two of their star players, Lemon and Alberttt, and summon the help of XINNN and Wizzking instead.

This eyebrow-raising decision received numerous critics but it’s safe to say that these kinds of moves are what RRQ Hoshi is known for. Although it was certainly questionable, RRQ Hoshi still gave their best in the series they’re about to play in.

Sure enough, both XINNN and Wizzking popped in the first game of the series. Playing as Claude and Khaleed respectively, RRQ Hoshi took down Bren in just under 12 minutes. What initially was a questionable decision from the side of RRQ Hoshi, could potentially be the secret recipe to counter Bren Esports.

Unfortunately, it seemed like this element of surprise was inadequate to take down Bren. In the three games that followed, Karltzy’s Claude and Lancelot was too much for RRQ Hoshi. The remaining games of the series looked grim for the side of RRQ, and their victory in the first round turned out to be their only win throughout this series. Like Alter Ego, RRQ Hoshi faced the same fate of getting slain by Bren Esports.

Chapter 6: The Final Duel

The M2 Grand Finals became the stage where the two newly formed rivals of Burmese Ghouls and Bren Esports fought their last battle. Having met in the first Upper Bracket match, Burmese Ghouls would only need to repeat their victory here in the Grand Finals. Bren, on the other hand, has to learn from their loss a few days ago and apply them in this very series.

Both teams came in equally as confident as each other and greatly respected the skills honed by their opposing team. The first two rounds were nothing but clean gameplay from the side of Bren Esports, especially seeing how comfortably free Karltzy’s Claude and Yi Sun-Shin was in those two games.

One thing to notice in these games and the rounds that trail after is that both sides drafted a relatively similar set of heroes. Choices like Claude, Yi Sun-Shin, Selena, Chou, Baxia, and many others are amongst the most frequently picked in this intense series.

Also, Bren Esports acknowledges how vital Burmese Ghouls’ Diggie Support can get once set loose, and they would continue to ban the hero in all seven games that ensued. It was perhaps a lesson learned by Bren Esports after watching Burmese Ghouls’ series against RRQ Hoshi.

Burmese Ghouls halted Bren’s momentum by letting ACE take over the next two games, in both of which ACE played as Yi Sun-Shin. This delicate choice was coupled with Burmese Ghouls’ ability to win Yi Sun-Shin’s lane, supporting the Hyper-core throughout the game, and letting him dominate the late game. With a great display of teamwork, Burmese Ghouls rebalanced the series into a 2-2 scale.

Now that the best-of-seven series has turned into a best-of-three, both teams had an equal chance of winning this year’s title. In Game 5, Karltzy was the one who had the opportunity to play as Yi Sun-Shin, while ACE played as Claude. It was KID’s Selena, however, who turned the tables around and paved the third victory for Burmese Ghouls.

Only a loss away from getting sent home, Bren Esports aggressively first-picked Brody, having the advantage of being on the blue-side. What became a game-winning factor was Karltzy’s itemization that led to the increase of Brody’s durability.

Instead of opting for damage-items all around, Karltzy decided to purchase items like Immortality, Athena’s Shield, and Antique Cuirass. If it wasn’t for this intricate selection, Bren would’ve been done for at this point, and thanks to this, the series dragged into a deciding, final game seven.

Both teams were only a win away and whoever wins this very round takes all. Both Bren and Burmese Ghouls chose heroes that they’re comfortable with. Karltzy gets his Claude, ACE gets his Brody, Flaptzy gets his Baxia, and Dee gets his Lapu-Lapu.

It was probably only Burmese Ghouls’ MayBe, who picked the non-META hero, Minsitthar. Like Lemon, MayBe picked this hero to counter Ribo’s Harith. The game went back-and-forth for both teams, but it was the fight near Lord where Karltzy’s Claude freely used his Ultimate Skill Blazing Duet which translated to a four-man wipe on the side of Burmese Ghouls.

Out of gas, Burmese Ghouls was forced to admit defeat, and Bren Esports are the newly crowned champions of the M2 World Championship. Spanning seven games in total, the Filipino squad takes home the first-place finish.

Bren Esports: M2 Champions. Source: @mobilelegendsgame.

Closing Remarks

Watching M2 was a wild ride for any Mobile Legends fans out there. With twists in plots and valuable lessons to teach, the M2 experience is on-par with other world-level tournaments.

It was, nevertheless, interesting to analyze intricate decisions made by various teams, starting from their hero drafts, itemization choice, player-lineup selection, and many others. Moving forward, it’s clear that the Mobile Legends scene is as flexible as the game gets. Anyone could very well be the world’s next best team, depending on how they would like to Join the Fight.

Cover Image by Mobile Legends Bang Bang.

M2 World Championship Post-Group Stage Draft and Strategy Analysis

This week (week 3 of January 2021) in esports has been nothing but full of intense competitive actions. In the PC gaming world, the Dota Pro Circuit 2021 has commenced in various competitive regions, showcasing the world’s best teams. Similarly, the counterpart mobile MOBA game, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, had just ended its M2 World Championship Group Stage phase.

Like DPC, M2 is filled with the world’s best Mobile Legends teams, ranging from the Southeast Asian giants to the beasts of Brazil, Russia, and Japan. These teams fought their very best to ensure their advancement to the Playoffs stage which starts on 22nd January. However, not all teams made it to the Playoffs stage, as four teams failed to deliver adequate results and have to head home.

The Group Stage draw split the 12 participating teams into four groups, Group A to Group D. Every team faces every other team in their group, and whoever wins the most number of matches advances to the Upper Bracket of the Playoffs stage. While the team which lost the most number of matches are the ones who won’t continue their M2 journey.

Group Stage Recap

In the first two days, the outcome of the matches was relatively expected. The strongest teams in each group delivered what most viewers had expected. Burmese Ghouls of Group A, as well as Omega PH Esports of Group B, dominated their respective groups with a clean 2-0 match win. Likewise, Bren Esports and Rex Regum Qeon Hoshi turned out to be the toughest teams in Groups C and D respectively.

Hence, the four aforementioned teams successfully secured an Upper Bracket seed in the Playoffs, while the remaining two teams of each group have to face each other off in order to survive the wave of departure. Day 3 was when the crucial deciding matches took place and upset happened.

Previously, teams that were part of the Mobile Legends Professional League (MPL) system — Indonesia, Malaysia/Singapore, Myanmar, and Philippine — showed utter dominance over non-MPL teams and they truly did advance to the Upper Bracket with ease. However, in the match between RSG and 10s Gaming Frost, it seemed that the Japanese squad had the upper hand this time.

First Non-MPL-Team Victory in M2

10s Gaming Frost struggled initially in Game 1, where they were absolutely crushed by the MPL Season 5 MY/SG Champions. Surprisingly, 10s Gaming made a dramatic comeback victory in both Games 2 and 3 against home team RSG with a unique draft of their own. Their victory did not only mark the first non-MPL team victory in M2, but also how surprising the foreign META could be.

Although a team could very well be the last season’s champions, that doesn’t necessarily translate to a definite win in every match they play – that’s the beauty of MOBA games. Time and time again, we saw how dark horses could overcome the reigning champions across numerous MOBA esports titles, even with a seemingly unique, anti-META draft.

10s Gaming Frost’s draft reminded me of Wings Gaming’s victory back in The International 2016 in the realm of Dota 2. At that time, Wings Gaming was a nobody in the professional scene, yet they completely crushed the crowd favorites in their journey to securing the Aegis of Champions. What allowed Wings to perform such a miracle was their immensely unique strategies.

Instead of opting for META-relevant heroes of that era, Wings chose to play out-of-the-box draft by picking heroes like Pudge and Techies in TI6 Playoffs. In a similar fashion, 10s Gaming’s victory, despite being their first, really showed how flexible and versatile MOBA games could get, even in Mobile Legends’ most prestigious tournament title.

Foreign META Paying Off

Professional players are indeed aware of this mind-boggling possibility that comes in this genre of games. The world’s best Mobile Legends players do admit that foreign META shouldn’t be treated as easy wins all the time.

For instance, Naing Linn Swe, better known as ACE of Burmese Ghouls, admits that the MPL teams are currently the best in the Mobile Legends competitive scene. But, that doesn’t mean those who aren’t part of the MPL scene should be considered a piece of cake.

In a virtual interview before M2 started, ACE said that “we can never really underestimate the other teams, they all have their own style and unique plays.” Furthermore, ACE emphasized that “everyone has their own plan to win against you, no matter who they are.”

ACE is a living example of how strong a team can get regardless of how young their competitive scene back home is. In fact, MPL Myanmar is the youngest MPL system out of all the regions involved. Yet, Burmese Ghouls are looking fiercer than ever in their recent M2 performance. According to ACE, if his team would like to beat the world’s best, they would need to “play very carefully, learn their movement, and their mistakes.”

Like ACE, RRQ Hoshi’s Head Coach, James, shared the same kind of respect towards non-MPL teams coming into M2. Despite having Indonesia’s MPL Season 6 Champions under his nurture, James believes that every participating team in M2 deserves their slot and should thus be respected.

When asked about his thoughts regarding foreign teams’ META and style of gameplay, James pointed out that “the META overseas and in Indonesia, the Philippines, in Malaysia/Singapore are all different, in Japan as well. They all can have their own different META, and they’re kind of gameplay, no one can change that. Although they can watch us and then kind of learn how we play in Indonesia, but still they have their own unique gameplay. That’s what we want to see, and that’s what we expect in M2 in the upcoming few days.”

Unique Strategies and Drafts in M2

As highlighted by the pros, anti-META drafts could work in cases where deemed suitable. MOBA games never really forced their players to pick the same type of heroes in all matches they play, which further encourages players to pick and strategize creatively according to their skills and liking.

M2 revitalized this potential in Mobile Legends as a few teams decided to go the unpopular route, leading to victories in some cases, and losses in others. We shall break them down in the following paragraphs.

Kaja: a Foreign META Favorite

Kaja was frequently picked during the Group Stage matches, and what’s interesting is that the hero is picked by teams from outside of the Southeast Asian region. The Nazar King has not been in the META in both Ranked Games and Tournaments alike.

Most of the time Kaja was used as a Support in the Midlane, but was also used quite a number of times in the Sidelane. What allowed for such a strategy is the hero’s Ultimate Skill, Divine Judgement. It’s a game-changing ability that could turn the tides of a game, given how reliable it is in catching the enemy team’s Hyper Core.

Once caught off-guard, Divine Judgement guarantees an instant death when utilized properly and is supported with a perfect follow-up from the rest of his teammates.

Hyper-Core Harley

Harley is indeed expected to come out in the current META, especially in the professional scene. Many were speculating it to either be used as a Hyper-Core or a Mage-Support. In the second game between Todak and Omega PH, Hyper-Core Harley was picked by Todak, but it didn’t perform as expected as they lost the game pretty badly.

The reason for their loss is actually pretty simple. Harley played as a Hyper-Core isn’t as reliable as it is in the early stages of the game, since Tankers would have finished building Magic-Resistance items by the late game.

Harley. Source: Mobile Legends Bang Bang.

Moreover, Harley could only deal a huge amount of damage when his Ultimate Skill is off cooldown. Thus, Omega PH dominated in the late game, and there’s really nothing that Harley could do for Todak at that point of the game.

Support Kaja & Hyper-Core Roger

During Game 2 between Unique DeVu vs. Burmese Ghouls, both Kaja and Roger were picked and this was the first time they were picked after being gone from the competitive scene for some time. Both heroes were picked by the Russian team Unique DeVu, known for their surprising drafts.

Kaja was picked to counter Burmese Ghouls’ Ling as Kaja’s Ultimate wouldn’t be able to be cancelled by Ling’s Ultimate. But the results weren’t very satisfying as they, in fact, lost the game. Kaja just didn’t work so well since ACE’s Ling was completely covered by his team’s Tanker throughout the game.

In addition, Ling is by far the hero with the highest mobility in Mobile Legends due to its ability to jump from wall to wall and his escape-mechanism Ultimate skill.

Tanker Benedetta & Support Silvanna

To everyone’s surprise, RRQ Hoshi decided to use Benedetta as a Tanker/Support in the Midlane, along with Silvanna as a Support, against Dreammax in Game 1. This surely caught Dreammax off-guard as this is the first time Benedetta was picked as a Tanker/Support.

Benedetta. Source: Mobile Legends Bang Bang.

This META is a bit similar to how Alter Ego usually plays their Tanker/Support Natalia strategy given how both teams do not utilize any normal Tank heroes in their lineup. Instead, an Assassin was used to fill in the missing piece.

This peculiar strategy worked so well since RRQ Vynnn’s Support Silvanna provided Crowd-Control effects and acted as Semi-Tanker for the rest of his team. As a result, it brought a definite-positive impact to the team despite their mid-game struggles with the lack of pushing-capabilities.

At the end of the day, RRQ Psychoo’s Benedetta was able to kill Dreammax’s Core heroes over and over again which gave space for Alberttt to farm and dominate in later stages of the game.

When asked about the reason behind their choice of playing Benedetta as a Tanker, Vynnn simply explained that the hero suits their gameplay and the rest of the draft. Plus, after their victory over Dreammax concluded, Vynnn also said that “Dreammax’s META displayed earlier was similar to that of the Asian teams. Perhaps they have learned and prepared a lot, especially during the quarantine period that they had. I think they analyzed the Asian server quite significantly. ”

XINNN and Vynnn in Post-match Interview. Source: Moonton.

This prior knowledge from RRQ’s side could just be their reason behind such an unexpected choice of gameplay. Given that Dreammax has learned a lot from the Asian servers, RRQ Hoshi needed a fresh and new strategy that no one was aware of.

Tanker Belerick

Objectively, Belerick is not that big of a surprise when the hero was picked, as it gained quite a significant buff that made it viable to enter the current META. RRQ Hoshi’s Lemon picked Belerick during the first game of their series against EVOS SG.

Lemon was tasked as a Sidelaner for this game, but as the game progresses into the mid-to-late game, Belerick transitioned into a team-fight initiator for the team. Belerick brings great momentum on multiple occasions for team RRQ, and their peculiar choice paid off magnificently.

For instance, in the last team fight right before the final Lord, RRQ was in a losing position in terms of where their creep-wave was positioned. It was until Lemon’s Belerick flanked from the opponent’s backside, opening the opportunity of a team fight. Luckily, RRQ Hoshi managed to recover thanks to this window and wiped out the entire lineup of EVOS SG, giving them the space to attain Lord and win the game thereafter.

What’s even more interesting to analyze aside from merely the Belerick pick, was Lemon’s choice of going for a full-Tanker build. Belerick wouldn’t be able to dominate that game if it wasn’t for the choice of the Tank Emblem alongside the Tanker Item build.

Support Silvanna

As mentioned earlier in this article, 10s Gaming made a decision that is not only out of the current META, but also a game-winning one. The final and deciding game that determined which team was going home between RSG and 10s Gaming ended in an unexpected way, partly due to this distinctive choice.

10s Gaming’s Obuyan surprisingly picked Silvanna as a Support after picking Kaja and Luoyi over and over again. The surprising factor is that Obuyan never picked Mages like Silvanna as the hero doesn’t seem to fit his Mage-Support playstyle. Nonetheless, it turned out to be a pick of a lifetime as they successfully took down the MPL MY/SG Season 5 Champions and advances to the Playoffs. 10s Gaming Frost is the only non-MPL team that made it through the Group Stage.

10s Gaming Frost. Source: @10sgamingfrost.

The Silvanna surprise-pick was intended to counter RSG’s Benedetta pick as Silvanna’s Ultimate Skill wouldn’t let Benedetta escape and it should guarantee a kill for them. On top of that, her second skill synchronizes well with their Ruby pick, since the two heroines combined could produce an enormous amount of damage. Furthermore, the Silvanna pick proved to be absolutely powerful against Claude due to it being an inescapable effect.

Tanker Terizla & Hyper-Core Masha

By far the most interesting pick of the tournament comes from the side of Impunity KH in their second game against EVOS SG. It was the first Terizla pick in M2 after the hero was buffed in the recent patch some time ago. Aside from placing Terizla on the Midlane as a Tanker, Impunity KH went all out and designated Masha as their team’s main Hyper-Core hero.

However, this may just be the first and last time we will get to see Masha being utilized as a Hyper-Core, judging from how the game turned out. Masha is only strong when played in the Offlane or the Sidelane, and she just doesn’t perform quite well with how a Hyper-Core should be playing.

Masha. Source: Mobile Legends Bang Bang.

It is indeed true that Masha is one of the fastest farmers in the game and by far the fastest hero to takedown Turtles and Lords on her own. Even so, she is tailored to play in the Solo Lane as she can survive on her own and farm super quick without requiring the assistance of Tankers to kick-start team-fights.

She would be much more valuable to be played as an Offlaner/Sidelaner to win one-on-one situations and push out her lane. The result of the game is as expected, with Impunity KH losing the second game. Nevertheless, this is a very interesting pick and META from the Cambodians, but it is slightly too creative for EVOS SG to easily punish them.

What’s Next for M2

Now that the Group Stage has come to an end, the stakes for every advancing team has significantly risen. We will probably see more comfort picks, just as how most of the teams decided to do during the Group Stage. But there’s still a probability that some teams decided to go a different path with unpredictable outcomes.

The eight remaining teams shall most definitely play their very best in the upcoming matches as all of them would want to lift this year’s title of the world’s best Mobile Legends team. With no defending champions in this tournament, we will soon witness a new world champion emerge from the ashes.

M2 Playoffs Bracket. Source: Mobile Legends Bang Bang.

Cover Image by Mobile Legends Bang Bang.

Why M2 World Championship Could Bring a New Era for Singaporean Mobile Legends scene

The mobile game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang has been around for quite a while since its first launch in 2016. It features a similar feel to MOBA games that have become quite popular among the youth, except without the need for a proper adequate PC to begin with. Requiring only a decent smartphone as well as an internet connection, Mobile Legends soon skyrocketed into popularity in Southeast Asia.

As its fame continued to rise over time, game developers Moonton seek to form what now defines Mobile Legends to be what it is: professional esports. With the momentum that the game had, it quickly became clear that a fully professional, competitive scene was about to emerge in regional communities.

Given the situation, it was inevitable that some form of structure and order had to be settled in the professional scene. As a result, the Mobile Legends Professional League (MPL) took shape and became the foundation of countless Mobile Legends tournaments to come. As its name suggests, teams participate in seasonal leagues to accumulate points, and the best teams are later gathered to play in a bracket system.

IDNS SG wins MPL MY/SG Season 1. Source: MPL MY/SG.

More importantly, the MPL paved way for even more prestigious events like the Mobile Legends Southeast Asia Cup (MSC), as well as World Championship tournaments such as M1 and M2, which now features not only the best teams in a region but also from all around the globe.

MPL: Foundation of Competitive Mobile Legends

Being the foundation of essentially all competitive Mobile Legends, MPL’s system is carefully mended by the organizers at hand.

In Southeast Asia specifically, the three biggest regions consist of Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia-Singapore. If you noticed, the first two countries have a competitive region of their own, while the Malaysian and Singaporean scenes are gathered together as one.

While reasons vary as to why this decision came in the first place, what is perhaps likely to be the main driving factor is the fact that these two competitive regions combined together are only as huge as the first two nations separately – at least when it first started.

Now that the Malaysian-Singaporean professional region has undergone as many as 6 seasons, the scene has developed into a mature industry of its own. As time progresses and the scene became even more popular in their respective countries, more and more teams started to be formed, and the scene begins to find itself over-populated with highly skilled teams from both nations.

MPL Malaysia Season 7 Announcement. Source: @mpl.mysg.official.

As a result, organizers from MPL Malaysia and Singapore have decided to part ways and set up two MPL regions of their own starting Season 7. Although the separation was announced, only MPL Malaysia has confirmed the next upcoming season, while their Singaporean counterparts made no further announcement regarding this issue.

Nonetheless, it’s still very probable that we shall see a Singaporean MPL now that the two competitive regions have split. Reasonably, the announcement received a very warm reception from their respective fans as the local scene from either country could evolve into becoming more competitive and mold a brand of their own.

M2: End of an Era

What’s interesting to analyze is the fact that after the M2 World Championship ends, it shall mark the end of an era in the Singaporean Mobile Legends scene. Moreover, whether or not the Singaporeans will take home the M2 trophy determines a lot to the next chapter of the Singaporean competitive Mobile Legends scene.

Currently, there are only two teams representing Singapore in the M2 World Championship: EVOS SG and RSG. These two teams are long-time veterans in the Malaysian-Singaporean scene and are undoubtedly the kings of the Singaporean scene. EVOS SG won MPL MY/SG Season 4, while RSG won in Season 5 thereafter.

However, it’s becoming clearer that the present EVOS SG roster will part ways after M2 World Championship concludes. Although there isn’t an official statement from the EVOS management yet, their players have hinted at going their separate ways, given how busy they actually are outside of becoming professional players.

This tough decision received mixed feelings from the fans as the roster had been together for quite a while up to this moment, but the current condition couldn’t speak otherwise. Instead of focusing on the disbandment per se, what should be of more attention is how this would further shift the outlook of the Singaporean scene.

Player Regeneration

EVOS SG has since become a cornerstone to professional Singaporean Mobile Legends and their separation is impactful to the future of the scene. Additionally, the disbandment of EVOS SG will ignite the competitive spirit of the rest of the potential Mobile Legends talents in the upcoming future. In other words, EVOS SG’s disbandment is essentially fuel to ensure player regeneration takes place in the region.

Many competitive MOBA games before Mobile Legends fail to keep the wheel turning by having fewer and fewer players as the season progresses. Take as an example, the Indonesian Dota 2 which is considerably diminishing in popularity compared to their Mobile Legends counterparts. One detrimental aspect which the Dota 2 scene lacked was player regeneration, as there were only a handful of pros remaining in the scene.

It was as if the scene went into a limbo state, with the biggest names trading their best players, in hopes of finding the magical secret of dominating the international stage. Sadly, their attempt failed to push through and the scene lagged behind the mobile world where an influx of up and coming talents are constantly flocking in.

Team Resurgence (now RSG). Source: Vulcan Post.

Without player regeneration, any competitive scene will twirl into a very boring one. Imagine eating the same food for ages without end, and that’s essentially your meal when no regeneration is taking place in the competitive field. On the other hand, Mobile Legends was like a land of lush greens where opportunities are up for grabs. Combine that with the heavy involvement of Moonton, it was inevitable that they soon dominated multiple regions at once.

Similarly, the disbandment of EVOS SG will allow for greater outreach to new talents. Their former players could, for instance, form new teams with a new set of up and coming players. Acting like their mentors, EVOS SG’s current players could very well become leaders of their own teams and future organizations.

These players do not only have the technical skill to win in-game matches, but they do secure tons of experience under their belt in terms of dealing with professional players’ needs and wants. Even if they do not become full-time players any longer, they could still perhaps become the next CEO of an esports team, or coach, or analyst.

Lowered Entry Barrier

Secondly, with EVOS SG out of the frame after M2, the entry barrier to competitive Mobile Legends is forcibly lowered down. Do realize that these players are amongst the best in their nation and with them out of the league, new talents could possibly find it easier to adapt to the already harsh skill capacity.

After all, what Mobile Legends allows for, which games like Dota 2 and League of Legends do not necessarily cater to, is the fact that new talents could quickly be on par with the current best players. It has occurred from time to time in professional Mobile Legends that these “nobodies” turned into the world’s best in a blink of an eye.

Furthermore, in the case of EVOS SG, it’s no secret that their player Ng Jun Hong, better known as Pokemon first joined the leading squad as a new talent, rather than a long-time veteran.

In a virtual interview with EVOS’ Assistant to CEO, Matthew Chan, we asked his opinion regarding the effects of the disbandment of EVOS SG on the Singaporean Mobile Legends scene. To which Matthew answered, “I think (the disbandment of EVOS SG) is really good for player regeneration. We’ve seen a lot more local teams coming in. I’ll name-drop a few like Kingsman is one that has been looking good as well.”

Adding to the point that new talents are potentially as good, or even better, than the current pros, Matthew said, “a lot of people tend to overlook this fact, but before Pokemon joined EVOS SG, he was actually a new talent. He was never in any amateur team. We believe there are a lot more ‘Pokemon’s out there. ”

Therefore, the disbandment of EVOS SG produces a relatively net positive for the future of the Singaporean pro scene. Understandably, there should be more and more casual players getting attracted to going pro, even if they have to treat it as a part-time job. Better yet, this probable influx of new talents is in line with the splitting of MPL MY/SG.

Potential of MPL SG

If MPL SG were to take place in the near future, just as the Malaysian scene would for the upcoming Season 7, then it would greatly facilitate the aforementioned fact that the number of new talents is bound to be increased. Not only do they have the objective to compete, but they also have a much wider range of flexibility and ease due to the fact that the two competitive regions have been split.

It sets a new tone for people interested in the competitive scene and essentially resets the season into Season 1. In addition, having more empty tournament slots to fill would greatly boost the potential of picking up new talents and the formation of new, Singaporean teams.

Sharing his thought on this matter, Matthew added, “having a full pro circuit or pro league, where say, 10 teams from Singapore can compete (last time there were only about four when MPL MY/SG was together), it will definitely allow us to scout more talent.”

Singaporean Esports Athletes in SEA Games 2019. Source: Vulcan Post.

Moreover, in Matthew’s perspective, the splitting of MPL MY/SG was “a step in the right direction from Moonton, where they’re trying to build branding for each country.” MPL SG would thus greatly encourage players from the region and/or new talents to prove their worth in the realm of competitive Mobile Legends.

Better yet, if the squad of EVOS SG could bring home the M2 trophy this coming week and make their homeland victory public news, it would certainly push the probability of a brighter Singaporean Mobile Legends scene in the near future.

Closing Remarks

Pair all these factors together, a new and exciting era of Singaporean Mobile Legends are bound to take form. MPL SG would highly provide the right platform for enthusiastic untapped talents, as well as the founding of future local esports teams. All the required facilities are available, and it’s really up to the community to take advantage of.

While EVOS SG is well on their way in battling for a world championship title in M2, whatever the outcome is, it shall be a major phase transition in the field of local competitive Mobile Legends. Established organizations are most definitely on the lookout for opportunities and so are fans equally as hyped for the next chapter of Singaporean esports.

Cover Image by MPL MY/SG.

Esports Franchising in Nations with Developing Mobile Esports Scene

Esports is one of the most attractive and popular fields to hop into in recent years. It has proven its worth and the amount of attention it gets even from the mainstream public. To a few, esports is merely forming teams and playing as five, but it gets more serious than that. Esports has formed its very own ecosystem outside of casual gaming, and the two realms seem to be growing in their own separate ways.

However, the esports ecosystem has a problem with sustainability and longevity. It’s certainly no secret that several esports titles are clearly dead in regions where the game is no longer thriving. Catering to this issue, some game developers have found ways to mitigate such a downhill long-term path, one of which is franchising.

While the benefits of franchising vary depending on the game, the general idea is to have the main game developer act as a franchiser. Potential franchisees can then purchase slots to be able to participate in organized, seasonal leagues hosted by the franchiser. Normally, every region has its own league, either separated per nation or one for each continent, depending on the organizers.

Status Quo

This trend of franchising could be found even in days of traditional sports and judging its effectiveness, various game developers have decided to adopt the same strategy. Riot Games, for instance, chose this path when it comes to their long-time titles like League of Legends starting the past few years.

On the one hand, not all game developers believe in such a structure in their ecosystem. For instance, Valve’s Dota 2 doesn’t implement franchising as they let third-party organizers host Dota 2 events and let teams participate in them. Furthermore, Riot Games themselves didn’t choose to recycle the same franchising idea for their latest esports title VALORANT.

The SK Telecom Dynasty. Source: The Score Esports.

Then again, the esports world isn’t limited to only the big PC esports games mentioned earlier. While titles like Dota 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and League of Legends are huge in regions such as North America, South Korea, Europe, and so on, their Southeast Asian counterparts are geared towards mobile-esports title instead.

Games like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and PUBG: Mobile have admittedly bled into the mainstream culture in countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and many others. Aside from becoming part of the youth’s culture, it has grown into an industry that could be considered on-par, or even better than their PC halves.

Factors that led to their ever-growing popularity include the accessibility of those games requiring only a smartphone, the entry barrier with a low difficulty level, as well as how elegant the organizers orchestrated the respective regional markets.

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang

To be more specific, consider how Mobile Legends: Bang Bang’s organizer Moonton developed the local scene. Unlike Valve, for instance, Moonton gets really involved with figures in the local scene such as tournament organizers, talents, team owners, and professional players. They did what Valve exactly did not do when it comes to these regions, and their efforts are clearly paying off.

Their way of sustaining the industry in the aforementioned regions is by holding seasonal leagues. They have a list of teams that participate regularly in different events which eventually build up to continental-level tournaments like Mobile Legends Southeast Asia Cup (MSC) and later international-scale tournaments like the M2 World Championship.

EVOS Legends Wins M1 World Championship. Source: ONE Esports.

Getting involved with different team owners assist in building trust between the two parties and ensures mutual loyalty. Moonton and event organizers gain plentiful benefits that stem from hosting leagues, and team owners could safely qualify into tournaments without the need to go through numerous phases of Open Qualifiers or Closed Qualifiers like that of Dota 2.

Pros and Cons of Franchising

With the risk of teams not playing in a prestigious tournament virtually gone and the securing of large-scale esports organizations under their belt, this system looks to be beneficial all-around. But, like many other things, this system comes with its own set of downsides if handled incorrectly.

Team organizations would need to commit dedication to play the seasonal leagues and paying the fees required to purchase the franchise slot. In comparison to the Dota 2 system implemented by Valve, teams are much more flexible when it comes to choosing which tournaments they would like to participate in.

When esports franchising thrives depends a lot on how large the scene is in the different regions. If the game is insanely popular and attractive, like in many Southeast Asian countries, then this high-risk, high-reward model could indeed be successful.

M2 World Championship Banner. Source: @mobilelegendsgame.

This model breathes and survives while relying quite significantly on promotion and marketing, as well as sponsorship. Hence this why organizers like Moonton needs to develop relationships with teams, organizers, media, players, and numerous other figures critical to the local scene. Otherwise, it would be a tough decision to make and could rather be detrimental in the long-run.

Mobile-Esports Franchising in East Asian Countries

In addition to the increasing popularity of mobile-esports particularly in Southeast Asia, East Asia also has a lot of untapped potentials. Their PC counterparts are amongst the most successful regions in the entire world, especially League of Legends. Countries like China, South Korea, and Japan have a long-lasting League of Legends esports scene that commenced as early as 2012.

Riot Games hosts multiple League of Legends seasonal leagues like the LoL Pro League (LPL) in China, LoL Champions Korea (LCK) in South Korea, as well as LoL Japan League (LJL) in Japan. This structure resonates with the path which Moonton decided to take in Southeast Asia, except with Mobile Legends instead.

Japanese LJL Team DetonatioN FocusMe. Source: Ginx TV.

What then remains as a question is whether or not they could emulate the same system in these East Asian countries. Like in Southeast Asia, gaming, in general, has emerged as part of the mainstream youth culture. So why would organizers like Moonton not carve the same path in East Asia, considering how similar of a potential the region has?

Well, a lot of that has to do with overcoming the ginormous popularity of PC games in different regions. South Korea’s League of Legends PC scene is essentially breathing air to many youngsters. Likewise, China’s love for PC-based esports title is pretty much mainstream. In these two nations, it’s considerably difficult for mobile-esports games to pierce into the market.

Gaming in Japan

On the other hand, the Japanese scene is quite unique to its own. The Japanese people are well known for their love for video games. They’re dubbed as the golden age of video games, and this shouldn’t be all too surprising knowing how huge companies like Nintendo, Sega, and Sony are in Japan.

Akihabara Lights in Tokyo, Japan. Source: Lonely Planet.

Therefore, shouldn’t esports be thriving too in a nation with such an enthusiastic gaming market? Although surely there are developing titles like Japan’s League of Legends scene given the presence of LJL, esports isn’t exactly the same in the region. While gaming itself is huge, esports has only started to develop in Japan.

This ironic yet factual situation is parallel to the opinion of a Japanese professional Mobile Legends player Obuyan. Obuyan is part of 10 Second Gaming Frost, a Japanese esports team that is also the only team representing Japan in both the M1 and M2 World Championships held in 2019 and 2021 respectively.

Japanese Esports Scene

In a virtual interview right before M2 kicks off, Obuyan shared his opinion regarding the Mobile Legends scene back home and the esports scene as a whole. Obuyan explained that “generally, the esports scene in Japan is very underwhelming and is still under a massive development, especially Mobile Legends. However, gaming itself is huge in Japan, but esports has barely developed.”

Moreover, Obuyan gave an important comparison between League of Legends and Mobile Legends. As mentioned, League of Legends already has a local scene thanks to the presence of LJL, but Mobile Legends still has no seasonal league system implemented in Japan.

Obuyan (front) and 10 Second Gaming Frost. Source: @obuyan.tv.

In Southeast Asian countries, the Mobile Legends Professional League (MPL) is vital to sustaining the ecosystem in the region, similar to how leagues like LPL and LCK greatly lift their respective local scenes. When asked whether MPL is needed in Japan, Obuyan pointed out that “MPL is very, very much needed in Japan.”

Obuyan believes that the reason why the current biggest MOBA game in Japan is League of Legends is partly due to the existence of LJL. The LJL was first created in 2014 and remains part of the local Japanese LoL scene ever since. If Moonton plans to develop MPL in an East Asian country, then Japan might be their next best target.

Youngsters hooked into gaming could be easily be transformed into highly committed and dedicated esports gamers and better yet, the Japanese PC-based esports culture isn’t as massive as the ones in South Korea and Japan. There could very well be other highly talented Mobile Legends players like Obuyan who’s waiting to unleash their skills.

Closing Remarks

It should be amusing to see how the mobile-esports scene could unravel in the coming years, now that the Southeast Asian scene has very much matured. Organizers like Moonton, Tencent, or Riot Games have great opportunities in certain nations where the market allows for such bold moves which these companies are known for.

Perhaps it’s just a matter of time before under-developed esports scenes are tapped into by these giants considering their current reception and enthusiasm of gaming. Also, if Obuyan and his 10s Gaming squad could make a name for themselves back home through winning M2, it would certainly boost the outlook of the Japanese mobile-esports scene and interest from mainstream audiences.

Cover Image by Inven Global.

RSG.Sana’s Opinion on Indonesian Teams and Teams Without MPL Experience in M2

M2 World Championship is less than a week away, and that means participating players from around the world have been gearing up for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang’s most prestigious tournament.

One representative from the Malaysia-Singapore region is Team RSG, who’s also MPL MY/SG’s Season 5 Champion. Being amongst the strongest team in the region, RSG looked promising coming into Season 6. Unfortunately for them, their back-to-back championship title was halted once they lost in Match 8 of the Lower Bracket and had to head home.

Resurgence MPL MY/SG Season 5 Champions. @wearersg.

Again, RSG faced the same outcome in ONE Esports MPL Invitational as they lost 2-1 in the first round against the Filipino squad Blacklist International.

Nonetheless, RSG is making their return to M2 World Championship after receiving a Direct Invite. Being one of the home teams representing Singapore together with EVOS SG, RSG is hungry for victories and would gladly perform their very best in the upcoming matches.

Before hopping into the M2 hype train, we had a chance to interview one of RSG’s players, Sana. Together with RSG (formerly Resurgence), Sana secured a first-place victory in MPL MY/SG Season 5, a runner-up finish in MPLI 4 Nations Cup, as well as a fourth-place finish in the latest MPL MY/SG Season 6.

What’s your opinion on Indonesian teams in M2?

“Indonesian teams are looking very, very strong especially after their recent performance in ONE Esports MPL Invitational and MPL Indonesia Season 6. RRQ Hoshi’s performance in MPLI was a bit disappointing because once they started playing in MPLI, they lost to Alter Ego straight away. That was their debut match after winning MPL Season 6 and was a bit unexpected. People expected RRQ Hoshi to win against Alter Ego due to their victory in MPL Season 6, but AE proved them wrong.”

Indeed, RRQ Hoshi failed to deliver a consecutive victory right after their sweet first-place title in MPL ID Season 6. RRQ Hoshi was seeded in the Champions’ Slot and did not have a chance to play a single match beforehand. On the other end, Alter Ego played two best-of-three series before facing RRQ Hoshi and immediately showed dominance in the rematch of the two giants.

RRQ Hoshi and Alter Ego in Road To M2 World Championship. @mpl.id.official. — RRQ Hoshi and Alter Ego in Road to M2 World Championship. @mpl.id.official.

As for their upcoming performance in M2, Sana added, “Comparing Alter Ego and RRQ Hoshi, Alter Ego is much stronger. Yet, Ahmad not joining Alter Ego in M2 will hurt them quite a lot. Ahmad was the star player in MPL Season 6. I think Alter Ego will still be very, very strong. They will have to take some time and play again with the current lineup, without Ahmad, and try to find momentum.”

It should be interesting to see how far Alter Ego can reach without their star player Ahmad and play with Yam instead. Aside from Indonesian teams which Sana considers to be stronger than Malaysian-Singaporean teams, RSG’s Offlaner has other unique insights regarding teams from regions without an MPL system.

What about your opinion on the other teams from countries that do not have MPL?

“Other regions without MPL don’t really have a lot of experience in big-scale tournaments like M2 and might not have the chance to fight teams from other regions previously. Hence, they might lack the knowledge regarding the current META. However, this can force them to play a unique META with different choices of heroes.”

Turning this deficit on its head, teams from regions without an MPL system can take advantage of this very fact. Regions with an MPL system are familiar with each others’ gameplay and style of drafting, which could be exploited against opposing teams. As for those who don’t, they can come in as dark horses with secrets up their sleeves. They could potentially turn the two-way unfamiliarity into their secret weapon when facing the MPL’s current best teams.

Emphasizing this point, Sana said, “Maybe Japanese teams can use out-of-META heroes, which can cause difficulty for teams with MPL in their region like Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, etc. These new surprising strategies can, in turn, help them fight against top MPL teams.”

M2 Group Stage 1 Phase 1 Schedule. @mobilelegendsgame.

With that in mind, RSG will be facing off against Unique Devu, a Russian team that didn’t have any prior MPL experience. Judging from Sana’s point, the match victory is really up to both teams to snatch. It might truly be the case that one’s weakness could be one’s strength at the same time.

Sana and his RSG squad will play their premiere M2 match against Unique Devu on the 18th, after being seeded into Group A, together with Burmese Ghouls. These three teams will most definitely display mesmerizing gameplay once the three METAs clash with one another. Will RSG be able to restore their former glory by winning Mobile Legend’s greatest title?

Cover Image by RSG’s Official Instagram Page @wearersg.

The Trend and Outlook of Indonesian Dota 2 Teams in 2021 Competitive Season

With the recent introduction of the new 2021 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) system by Valve, various professional players and teams have begun to prepare their upcoming roster for this season. As the new year kicks in, formerly teamless players have gradually gathered to play together and form stacks, in hopes of qualifying for the promising 2021 DPC season.

Interestingly, the Indonesian competitive scene has transitioned to an almost entirely different phase, whereby many of the old esports traditions and cycles are ultimately abandoned. The Indonesian Dota 2 pro scene started to follow the steps taken by other neighboring Southeast Asian countries and their players.

This shift marks an essential step into ensuring that the Dota 2 scene does not propel into a limbo stage, like its League of Legends counterpart, for example. Indonesian Dota 2 players have yet again proven that they are indeed still hungry for victories and are eager to make changes deemed necessary.

Indonesian Players in 2021

Unlike previous seasons, the 2021 DPC allows for greater flexibility in terms of team rosters, as seen from the less strict roster changes rule announced by Valve. Furthermore, there was a total of four Open Qualifier rounds with two teams advancing per round. As a result, many players were intrigued to form casual yet competitive teams in hopes of igniting the Indonesian scene once again.

What’s different, however, is that more and more Indonesian players are now playing with a mixed, Southeast Asian roster, rather than an all-Indonesian team. For instance, two Indonesian players, Dreamocel and inYourdreaM, teamed up with players from Singapore and Malaysia to form Team ZeroTwo (formerly Team Cow).

Similarly, inYourdreaM’s former teammate who’s also an Indonesian, Jhocam, is playing with a group of Singaporean, Thai, and Korean players in Team HOYO. What both ZeroTwo and HOYO are doing is certainly not the mainstream, as Indonesian players are rarely found playing with a mixed roster.

While ZeroTwo and HOYO are leaning more to the casual side, the South Korean giant T1 has recruited the Indonesian Support duo Xepher-Whitemon. These two are playing with players from Cambodia and the Philipines. It looks like the nation’s best players are gradually finding it more beneficial to play with a mixed roster.

Nevertheless, there are still some Indonesian teams that uphold an all-Indonesian roster, such as BOOM Esports who had just recruited Drew, long-time veteran organization, The Prime, as well as the underdogs of Army Geniuses. These three organizations are some of the ones which survived the not-so-friendly 2020 competitive season.

Decreasing Interest from Organizations

One clear trend that’s currently taking place in the Indonesian Dota 2 scene is the gradually diminishing interest coming from esports organizations to back these teams up. Arguably, only BOOM Esports and The Prime are left as the remaining ones.

This wasn’t the case only two years ago, whereby Indonesian organizations with Dota 2 rosters are all over the place. Even the most OG Dota 2 organization like Rex Regum Qeon is far and gone from the Dota 2 scene, as much as their mobile-esports halves are continuing to rise in popularity.

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A post shared by Team RRQ (@teamrrq)

Aside from RRQ, EVOS Esports, Alter Ego, and PG.BarracX are presently in the same situation. It should be, however, of no surprise that these organizations left the scene as it wasn’t the most fertile field to invest in, unlike that of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and PUBG Mobile.

With that, it’s difficult to resist playing with a mixed roster, to not only find out whether it works better than an all-Indonesian lineup but also open the opportunity to be picked up by an international organization. Risking it all on an Indonesian organization to back your team up may not be a sustainable plan in the long run.

How Good Are Indonesian Players Anyway?

A question that comes into mind is whether or not Indonesian players are as good as the rest of Southeast Asia? If so, why is an all-Indonesian roster barely working out? Theoretically, shouldn’t a group of five talented players, all of which are of high Match Making Rating (MMR), dominate the competitive scene?

As of the time of writing, at least 30 Indonesian players are within 500 highest-rated players in the Southeast Asian leaderboard. Numerous players are found to be just as individually skilled as other players in Southeast Asia. Yet, only a few Indonesian teams have attained much achievement in the competitive field.

It should be very ironic to see how Indonesian teams perform very well in national tournaments and Ranked Matches but finds it difficult to make a scratch on the surface of international-level tournaments.

Indonesian players are very high skilled individually. However, the moment they play as five, it seems like they just lack the exposure of playing against international teams. Yes, they may be great locally, but once exposed even to a Southeast Asian tournament, the gameplay easily falls apart.

It’s difficult to provide the exact reasoning behind this weakness, but probable ones include the lack of scrims against international teams, limited training time, and perhaps staying all too comfortable with what they already know in terms of in-game knowledge.

These aren’t entirely the teams’ fault, as indeed the Indonesian scene lacks local competitive events and tournaments in recent years. With the lack of local support, teams can hardly make adjustments nor explore new strategies in practice.

To make matters worse, the international scene has shifted to regional-level tournaments with the premiere introduction of DPC, further slowing down the development of Indonesian teams. They struggle to even make it through Southeast Asian Open Qualifiers and back home, they have no tournaments to participate in!

Indonesia is filled with multiple talented individuals who are just as skilled as players from the West and the East. Their biggest challenge is to make use of what they have and play on the toughest competitive levels of Dota 2.

: Rex Regum Qeon in Kaskus Battleground Tournament. Source: Mineski.net.

Risk-taking is also a problem with Indonesian players who are gifted but aren’t willing to say, relocate to a different country. It is only in recent years when doing so is common, as some players aren’t always willing to move out, or to communicate with a team in a foreign language.

Learning from Other Esports Titles

This series of events could snowball into a wholly dead scene which should ultimately be avoided if the Indonesian scene wants to avoid what had happened to the League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene.

What happened to these two is essentially the lack of player regeneration and tournaments. It was always the same set of players shuffled among teams and the hype also died down within local fans with the lack of local events.

Indonesian fans love it when they attend in-person tournaments as it really lifts their competitive spirit. The Mobile Legends scene clearly benefits from organizing live events since their earliest competitive seasons.

I do vividly remember how packed the venue was during Mobile Legends Southeast Asia Cup 2017. It is safe to say that the word “crowded” is an understatement. This bombardment of support from local fans is a shiny boost for not only the competing players, but also organizations who are interested in investing in the scene.

: Mobile Legends Southeast Asia Cup 2017. Source: Detik News.

Furthermore, the Indonesian Dota 2 scene of today is slowly moving in the same direction as its Counter-Strike scene back in 2017-2018. It was clear that the Indonesian scene was dying, and so several CS:GO players have taken the risk to play with foreign teams. They were among the first to actually make the leap and things worked out for the most part.

For example, BnTeT and Xccurate made a groundbreaking decision to play with the Chinese team TYLOO, which arguably is their only way out from the diminishing local scene. In the same fashion, more and more Indonesian Dota 2 players are now being exported to foreign teams or choose to play in a roster of mixed players.

Implications on the Future of the Scene

Gone are the glory days of an all-Indonesian lineup, that perhaps reached its peak in Dota 1 with the Indonesian Fnatic roster led by the legendary veteran RitteR. Changes, nonetheless, are inevitable and critical for the longevity of the scene.

: Indonesian Fnatic DotA Roster. Source: Mineski.net.

But Indonesia isn’t the first to walk in this path. Players from neighboring countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Korea, and the Philippines have taken the exact same steps of playing with foreign teams and abandoning the pride of playing with a team consisting of only one nationality.

They have learned that to cope up with the international scene, one must not remain long within the comfort zone. And this worked for the most part! Just take a peek at TNC, Fnatic, and countless other European teams that benefitted from making such decisions.

Playing with a group of foreign players isn’t always easy: there are communication barriers, potential differences in how players understand the game, connection issues, and so on. Yet it’s a risk worth taking if they would like to survive the competitive field.

: Mineski’s Victory in DAC 2018. Source: VPEsports.

Dota 2 isn’t the easiest of all esports games and it does take a lot of commitment when playing professionally. Progress requires changes, and changes require running the extra mile. Whether or not this method of mitigation will work out, in the long run, is an open question, but what’s certain is that these players have to work even harder and make themselves more noticeable by foreign organizations.

Closing Remarks

With the DPC 2021 Season 1 already in motion, it will be exciting to see how all of these changes unravel. As of the time of writing, the roster of BOOM Esports and two Indonesian players in T1 are seeded in the Southeast Asian Upper Division. They are up against the region’s best teams around.

Similarly, Army Geniuses and The Prime made it to the second stage of the Closed Qualifiers, together with ZeroTwo and HOYO. Eight out of the twelve participating teams stand a chance to advance into the Lower Division and would be one step closer to a Major Playoffs. Hopefully, these radical changes in roster lineups could reignite the local Indonesian Dota 2 scene once again.

Cover Image Originally by ESL.