Alter Ego Ares astonished the PUBG Mobile Southeast Asia audience roughly three weeks ago by winning the PUBG Mobile Super League Spring 2023 after three days of Grand Finals in Malaysia. They defied the expectations of Indonesian audiences who preferred heavyweights like Boom Esports, Voin and Bigetron in the grand finals.
This victory marked Alter Ego’s first international major trophy after competing in the PUBGM scene for more than 4 years. Some believed that the team’s preparation in the local competition, PUBG Mobile Pro League ID, gave them a better understanding of the competition’s meta. Alter Ego captain Sharfan “Potato” Shodiq told us that while he’s impressed with his team’s preparation during the PMSL, the loss in the PUBG Mobile Global Championship 2022 in Jakarta proved to be a valuable lesson for the team.
“I’m so happy because after a month of preparation and hard work, we finally won our international competition for the first time,” said Potato. “We were so motivated to step up after the PMGC 2022. The experience against heavyweight names was one of the most important lesson after all. That and the addition of Okta and Rosemary to the team gave us renewed confidence.”
He acknowledges that during PMSL Alter Ego was not a team favored to win, considering there were big Indonesian teams in there, Bigetron and Boom Esports, which showed extraordinary mental fortitude. Apart from that, they also faced some giants from Thailand. Even so, Potato emphasized that they were never complacent and saw every team as a potential threat.
“We didn’t do much in the first week. However, we were evaluating the performances of other teams and ourselves every week to the grand final. At the big stage there’s no easy enemy. Every team is a threat regardless of their region.”
In addition to their tactical excellence, the addition of youngster Ryan “Rosemary” Rolos contributed significantly to their historic victory. Although Rosemary was struggling during the PMPL ID, becoming butt of the joke among AE fans at the time, he committed himself to the PMSL and showed great improvement within a short span of time. Potato responds that the early weeks was difficult for Rosemary and he has encouraged him to focus on his goal since then.
“It’s understandable that he seemed clueless at the start of the league (PMPL Spring ID 2023). He came from GPX which employed completely distinct gameplay compared to Alter Ego. He’s still young and his mechanics have the potential to rival those veteran professionals. And Rosemary himself didn’t care too much about these haters. He’s a strong kid!”
Their trust in Rosemary paid off when he was awarded the Season MVP and Gunslinger titles for his brilliance in PMSL Spring 2023. Potato noted that the victory gave his squad renewed optimism as they are heading to the next hunt: the PMPL Fall ID 2023 and PUBG Mobile World Invitational 2023 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
