After months of teasing its arrival in the Philippine Mobile Legends: Bang Bang competitive scene, Team RRQ has finally revealed the new Philippines unit named RRQ Kaito. This is the company’s second international MLBB expansion, after RRQ Akira in Brazil.
Kenneth “Kenji” Villa, who last played for RSG PH in MPL Philippines, will lead the new squad. Along with youngsters Dai Ki, Ferdz, and Shocker, he will be joined by former Cignal Ultra jungler Janus “Y4nusu” Badando and former Todak player Karl “Karl” Rouvic Devosora. Y4nusu will be reunited with his former teammate Lester “Tets” Santos, who was announced as the team manager.
Given his past accomplishments, RRQ has made an excellent choice with Kenji as the captain of the team. He previously won MPL PH Season 9 and was a key member of the MLBB Philippines national squad that won the 2019 MLBB SEA Games. Interestingly, he was reported to have participated in trials for RRQ’s rival squad, Evos Legends, but lost to Gerard ‘Dlar’ Trinchera, who is currently a member of Evos Legends.
This is not the first RRQ esports team in the Philippines. They have an active second Valorant team in the country. Additionally, in 2021, they had a Wild Rift squad that disbanded early this year. Looking back on how they restructured the Valorant squad, RRQ Kaito is likely to become a development center for young talents that they may sign at any moment to play for Team RRQ in MPL Indonesia.
Seeing how this scouting method worked well for their new rival, Onic Esports, who found their ace Kairi “Kairi” Rayosdelsol at Onic Philippines last year, it is safe to assume that RRQ may find their own Philippines gem this season and head towards a new direction with more imports. At the moment, the newly restructured RRQ squad in Indonesia is doing well, thanks to their new recruit from Myanmar, Min “Naomi” Ko.
RRQ Kaito will compete in the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Development League Season 2 (MDL PH Season 2) alongside eleven other teams, eight of which are sister organizations competing in the MPL PH. At the moment, there’s no further information regarding the schedule of MDL PH Season 2.
