The Philippines Sibol team finally avenged their loss to Indonesia yesterday in the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang tournament to win the International Esports Federation World Championship 2023 event in Iasi, Romania. Previously, they lost 3-0 in the grand finals of IESF WC 2022 grand finals in Bali, Indonesia, in December 2022.
Although the two teams were not represented with the same lineup from the previous year, this did not necessarily make the match between them less competitive. Most pundits predicted that the Sibol team, represented by the AP Bren team, would face difficulties against the Indonesian team, represented by Bigetron Alpha. Furthermore, the previous season’s one-point advantage rule for the higher bracket team had been repealed, meaning they had no advantage.
Surprisingly, though, the underdogs experimented with some new tactics and cruised to the grand finals. Through the combo of David “Canon” Canon and Angelo “Arcangel” Kyle Arcangel, the team managed to kill the effectiveness of Bigetron Alpha, which earned the ‘Filipino Stopper’ title following their impressive records against the Filipino heavyweights in the Snapdragon Pro Series S3.
In game 1, Indonesia narrowly avoided a defeat and secured a point by 22-21 victory. Despite being overrun in the early game, they were able to turn things around in the late game courtesy of Calvyn “Vynnn” with his Diggie, who assisted his teammates in the crucial teamfight at the final minute. However, the Sibol lads equalized in the next game, thanks to a combination of Arcangel’s Pharsa and Canon’s Terizla, who had exceptional crowd control advantages.
They subsequently capitalized on this moment in the next two games. In game 3, they seized the lead thanks to Arcangel and Marco “Requitiano” Requitiano, who dominated point kills in a 25-5 win in under 16 minutes. Finally, they sealed their victory in game 4 by 7-1 in 13 minutes 37 seconds, thanks to outstanding play from Canon and Arcangel, who were able to cut off the Indonesian team’s counter-attack strategies.
This victory marked their first triumph in the second year of the MLBB tournament at the IESF event and earned them a $50,000 grand prize. The Sibol squad is the only Southeast Asian team to win a gold medal at IESF 2023. They came close to winning another gold medal in Tekken 7 with Alexandre “AK” Laverez, but were defeated in the grand finals by Iranian Atif “Atif Butt” Ijaz.
