Following the conclusion of every franchise league in each region, the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Southeast Asia Cup 2023 tournament will take place in Cambodia on June 10, 2023. And for the first time in the competition, Moonton have invited top teams from leagues outside of Southeast Asia to participate in the MSC 2023.
The addition of the invited teams will certainly make it even more interesting, as the competition turned into a lite version of the M-Series. Many expect the heavyweights to try their best and seize the title to complete their trophy collection. However, the invited teams certainly cannot be underestimated as some of them have showcased serious skills in M4 few months ago.
Based on their respective track records, we are expecting these teams to secure a top four finish in the MSC 2023 tournament.
1.Fire Flux Impunity (Turkey)
Fire Flux Impunity was formed ahead of MTC Turkiye 2023 as a collaboration between the Fire Flux team and veteran esports organisation from Singapore named Impunity. Despite their status as the new kid on the block, Fire Flux Impunity is made up of members from Turkey’s previous champions Incendio Supremacy, who wowed the M4 spectators in January.
At the M4, they shocked Blacklist International and nearly wiped them out during a group stage game. In the round two of lower bracket, Incendio surprisingly eliminated Team Haq, the champions of MPL Malaysia Season 10. Their trio, Emre “Sunshine” Sari, Sidar “Tienzy” Mentese, and Baris “Alien” Cakir, were praised for their mental fortitude and mechanics. Additionally, all of them had been watching a lot of matches in SEA and analyzed them.
Fire Flux Impunity will compete against Team Evo, new debutants from Laos, and the M4 champions Echo Philippines in group A. Seeing how far they’ve become and considering Turkey’s good luck in other mobile game title this year, it’s certainly not a stretch to consider Fire Flux as one of the dark horses in the MSC 2023.
2.Blacklist International (Philippines)
Don’t fix what’s not broken. Blacklist International gets it. Even though their gameplan was deemed as outdated and predictable by most of the MPL audience and pundits in SEA, they did their best and somehow made it to the grand final of MPL PH Season 11 back then.
Despite some subpar regular season run, Blacklist International eliminated most of their competitors and made it to the MPL PH grand final two times in a row. Although Echo eventually defeated them, it’s still a good run considering they’ve been playing without their ace Kiel “Oheb” Soriano and the head coach Kristoff “Bon Chan” Ricaplaza.
Blacklist will definitely be counting on the veteran duo Danerie “Wise” Del Rosario and Jonmar “OHMYV33NUS” Villaluna to come up with strategies. Though they probably will rely on their classic meta, Wise and the new player Kenneth “Yue” Tadeo have demonstrated some flexibility to overcome their opponents. Thus, even at their worst, Blacklist cannot be underestimated.
3.Echo Philippines (Philippines)
The last six months has been an amazing trip for Echo Esports: they seized their first international title at the M4 in Indonesia and won the MPL PH Season 11 by defeating their rival, Blacklist International. So it’s pretty much expected from them to go all out in the MSC 2023 to complete their collection in 2023.
Their consistency and mental fortitude will undoubtedly be put to the test in this tournament. However, aside from that one dismal record in MPL PH Season 11, they have not shown any glaring weaknesses so far. Furthermore, everyone on this squad has demonstrated excellent mechanics, especially Sanford “Sanford” Marin Vinuya and Frederic “Bennyqt” Gonzales. It would take more than 100 per cent to beat this world champions.
4.Onic Esports (Indonesia)
Onic Esports has shown serious improvement during MPL ID Season 11 as they humiliated Evos Esports in the grand final of MPL ID Season 11 by 4-0. Many MPL ID fans and pundits applauded the progress of Onic players and their great teamwork.
Outside of the Indonesian MLBB scene, some players and pundits from other countries are also rooting for Onic Esports in the MSC 2023. Many believe Onic will give it their all in this competition since they are desperately looking forward to win their first international title.
All eyes will definitely be watching Kairi “Kairi” Rayosdelsol, and veteran coaches Paul Denver “Yeb” Miranda and Adi Asyauri as they face the heavyweights in this tournament. The MPL ID stats, however, shows that their youngster Gilang “Sanz” is no less dangerous compared to his Filipino teammate.
