The 2023 Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championship, commonly referred to as the M5 World Championships and M5, was the fifth edition of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championship, an esports tournament for the mobile phone MOBA game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. The world championship lasted from November 23 until December 17, 2023.[1]
This edition of the world series foresaw an increase in regional and team participation with new entries including South Asia, Mekong, Mongolia and China.[2][3] Meanwhile, team qualifications for Latin America increased from one representative to two for this edition. Furthermore, this edition featured the first wild card event where eight (8) teams from the aforementioned regions including Malaysia, Europe, MENA, and LATAM were able to compete for two wildcard slots.[2]
M5 featured a higher prize pool than its predecessors with $900,000. This is the largest prize pool for any international Mobile Legends: Bang Bang competition and the largest pool of teams at the time.[4]
In the Grand Finals, AP Bren won the M5 World Championship title in seven games,[5] defeating Indonesia’s ONIC Esports.
AP Bren is the only organization to win two M-World titles twice, the first being during the M2 World Championships[6]—dubbed as the superstar studded roster which included synonymous veterans including Carlito Ribo Jr., Karl “KarlTzy” Nepomuceno, David “FlapTzy” Canon, Angelo “Pheww” Arcangel, and Allan “Lusty” Castromayor Jr.
The Grand Finals match also broke the M4 World Championship’s Grand Finals viewership record—recording 5,067,107 peak live viewers during the match, making it the most-watched MLBB game in history and the second-most watched game in 2023,[8] just behind the 2023 League of Legends World Championship between T1 and Weibo Gaming.
Background
Following M4, the MLBB M5 World Championships is the fifth Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championship and the first edition of the games to be held in the Philippines.[9] Malaysia was later announced to be the host of the wildcard round.[10]
Previously, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia held the first four editions of the games, M1 in Kuala Lumpur;[11] M2[12] and M3[13] in Singapore; and M4 in Jakarta.[14]
The M5 World Championship was announced to be held in Metro Manila.
Alongside Moonton, the country's Department of Tourism organized the event. EVM Convention Center (located in Quezon City) hosted the group stage and first knockouts stage of M5. On the other hand, the latter knockout stages and grand finals was held at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum in Manila. The selling of tickets for the event started on October 25.[15][16]
Qualifying for the M5 World Championship comes from the competing nation's Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League or commonly known as "MPL." However, regional qualifiers in the North America, Turkey, Myanmar, and Latin American regions were also held to broaden the reach of the Championship's teams. Two teams shall also qualify from the M5 Wildcards.
M5 will feature the European region for the fourth time since its absence in the last M4 World Championship. The number of natural qualifiers for MPL Malaysia have also been reduced to one. Instead of having its own slot, Brazil is now included in the Latin America region for a chance in the two regional teams participating for the world championship.
Notable teams including ONIC Esports, SeeYouSoon, RRQ Akira and Team SMG returns to the world stage from their previous World Championship campaigns. Notably, ONIC Esports and RRQ Akira returns after M4 and Team SMG and SeeYouSoon returns after M3.[19][20]
Amid the new format of the MLBB World Championship, two notable teams in AP Bren and Burmese Ghouls makes a remarkable return after their M2 campaign. AP Bren, were the MLBB M2 World Champions, defeating Burmese Ghouls in the process. Formerly known as Bren Esports, the M2 World Champions boasted popular players such as Carlito "Ribo" Ribo Jr., Allan "Lusty" Jr., Ralph "Coco" Sampang, and ECHO superstar and two-time world champion Karl "KarlTzy" Nepomuceno.[21] After their victory over Blacklist International, the likes of M2 World Champions Angelo Kyle "Pheww" Arcangel and Charles "FlapTzy" Canon make a return to the international stage alongside M2 World Champion Coach Francis "Ducky" Glindro.[22]
Meanwhile, Burmese Ghouls returns with a new roster with new faces than the M2 squad.
Official rosters
Returning teams from the previous MLBB World Championships include Blacklist International, ONIC Esports and RRQ Akira while newer teams such as Geek Fam Indonesia, Bigetron Sons, HomeBois, Team Flash, Triple Esports, Fire Flux Esports, TheOhioBrothers and most of the wildcard teams will be part of their first world championships.
AP Bren marks a return as the M2 World Champions alongside Burmese Ghouls who were their finals opponents on the aforementioned series, Blacklist International are returning for their third-consecutive Worlds after winning M3 and runners-up for M4. SeeYouSoon and Team SMG returns since M3 and Deus Vult returns since M1.
The M5 Wild Card tournament is a qualifying tournament for the MLBB M5 World Championship, an esports tournament for the Mobile Game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.
The M5 World Championship was the first edition to include a wild card round.[23] The top two teams will qualify for the main tournament.
Subway (Wan Mohamad Danish Safwan Bin Mohd Sakirin)
Saxa (Kenneth Fedelin)
Smooth (Aeliff Adam Md Ariff)
Sasa (Lu Khai Bean)
Stormie (Hazziq Danish Bin Mohamad Rizwan)
Mikko (Deomark Tabangay)
Coach Pao (Ren Paolo Villanueva)
Group stage
Group A
Pos
Team
Pld
W
L
GF
GA
GD
Qualification
Team SMG
Nightmare Esports
Team Falcons
4Merical Esports
1
Team SMG
3
3
0
6
2
+4
Qualification for Wildcard Bracket
—
2–1
2–1
2–0
2
Nightmare Esports
3
2
1
5
3
+2
1–2
—
2–1
2–0
3
Team Falcons
3
1
2
4
4
0
Eliminated from Contention
1–2
1–2
—
2–0
4
4Merical Esports
3
0
3
0
6
−6
0–2
0–2
0–2
—
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Moonton
Group B
Pos
Team
Pld
W
L
GF
GA
GD
Qualification
Team Lilgun
Imperio Esports
Umbrella Squad
Keep Best Gaming
1
Team Lilgun
3
3
0
6
2
+4
Qualification for Wildcard Bracket
—
2–1
2–1
2–0
2
Imperio Esports
3
2
1
5
2
+3
1–2
—
2–0
2–1
3
Umbrella Squad
3
1
2
3
4
−1
Eliminated from Contention
1–2
0–2
—
2–0
4
Keep Best Gaming
3
0
3
0
6
−6
0–2
0–2
0–2
—
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Moonton
Crossover match
Knockout Round (Best-of-5)
Qualified Teams
1A
Team SMG
3
2B
Imperio Esports
1
1A
Team SMG
Qualified for Group B
1B
Team Lilgun
Qualified for Group C
1B
Team Lilgun
3
2A
Nightmare Esports
0
Main Stage
Draw
On November 3, the mechanics of the Group Draw was announced for the M5 Tournament proper, not the Wild Card tournament. There were three pool of teams: Pool 1, Pool 2 and Pool 3. Pool 1 contained the champions and runners-up of MPL Philippines and MPL Indonesia Season 12 in AP Bren, ONIC Esports, Blacklist International and Geek Fam. Pool 2 contained eight champions from different regions including Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia and Turkey. Pool 3 showcased Deus Vult, Bigetron Sons, and two of the qualifying wildcard teams.
The Group Draw followed three outlying principles:
Principle A: All Teams from the same region can no be drawn into the same group;
Principle B: All Teams from Pool 1 will not be drawn into the same group; All Teams from Pool 3 will not be drawn into the same group;
Principle C: The Serpentine Order of Drawing will be followed: ABCD-ABCD-ABCD-ABCD.
The Group Draw was accompanied with a Press Conference on November 4, 2023. Special Guests Gerald "Dlar" Trinchera and Jonard "Demonkite" Caranto were invited as Guest Stars for the said event.[26]
The series between See You Soon and Deus Vult in the Lower Bracket Quarterfinals was a first in the world stage as Deus Vult were able to reverse sweep See You Soon after falling in a 2-0 deficit. It was Malaysia's Todak who was able to pull off a reverse sweep during the knockout stage in an MLBB World Championships, reverse sweeping CIS representative Natus Vincere 3-2 in M3.
ONIC Esports denied AP Bren its Grand Finals spot in the Upper Bracket Final after a 3-0 sweep over the Philippine champions. The Grand Final match would be the first Philippines vs. Indonesian Final in the M-Series and the first Indonesian appearance since M1. AP Bren defeated Blacklist International 3-0 in the Lower Bracket Finals to face a rematch against ONIC. After holding a 3-1 lead, ONIC won two straight games to force Game 7 which AP Bren won through a crucial pickoff on Kairi "Kairi" Rayosdelsol while traversing the bush in the middle lane.
AP Bren recorded a .704 win rate during the entirety of the competition, tying ONIC with a 6-0 record in the Group Stage. AP Bren defeated See You Soon (3-1) and Geek Fam Indonesia (3-1) in the Knockout stage but fell to the lower-bracket to ONIC Esports in 0-3. They recorded a 13-11 record for the entirety of the knockout stage with the Grand Finals included. ONIC Esports has the highest winning rate of .750 among all teams in M5 followed by Team Lilgun (.615) and Team SMG (.600).
Special awards
Special awards were distributed during the opening program of the Grand Finale of M5. Spearheaded by Sophie Guo, the Regional Esports Head of Moonton Games, awarded The M5 Fan Choice Award to ONIC Esports' Assistant Coach, Ahmad "Mars" Fakhre.[citation needed]
M-Series 5th Anniversary: Greatest 10 Players Award
The M-Series 5th Anniversary individual awards were released prior to the playoffs of the M5 World Championships. The nomination process went through certain criterions released by Moonton. However, the nominees were plagued into controversies due to the snubbing of the "VEEWISE" duo of Johnmar "OhMyV33Nus" Villaluna and Danerie James "Wise Del Rosario due to their affiliation with the online-betting site Rivalry.[28] Furthermore, M3 World Champion Finals MVP Kiel Calvin "OHEB" Soriano was also snubbed in the nomination process. The controversy led to the withdrawal of Naing Lin "ACE" Swe from being a contender due to his own affiliation with a separate online-betting site which caused outraged from Burmese fans. Swe withdrew from being part of the nomination list and on a shorter notice, Moonton released a public apology for their unseen overview of the situation.[29]
The list of awardees were made up of 6 Filipino players, 3 Indonesian players and 1 Burmese player.[30]
The M5 World Championships oversees regional partners from different countries to get the chance to stream the tournament in the participating countries and also worldwide.
Moonton announced that the Fighter Hero Yu Zhong will be receiving this edition's special M5 Pass Skin.[31] The M5 Pass is a in-game pass that gives players rewards and incentives while doing Daily Tasks and Challenges. The M5 Pass includes custom M5 effects such as Recall Animations, Kill Animations, a Trail Animation for the Hero, Limited Edition Skins and in-game rewards that can be used to unlock more rewards.
Upon purchasing any M5 Pass, Yu Zhong's "Dragon's Shade" Skin would be attained by every person who purchase it while its prime skin "Cosmic Dragon" is able to be attained once the player's M5 pass reaches Level 75. The M5 Pass was officially made to be available on November 20.
Theme song
On November 12, 2023, the song "Better Than Great" was released as the official song of the tournament in Spotify.
Ten days later on November 22, the music video for Better Than Great was released featuring several players participating and players who made a great impact for MLBB worldwide like ONIC Esports' Kairi Rayosdelsol and Nicky "Kiboy" Pontonuwu, Avalon's Jungler Michael "MobaZane" Cosgun, Nicholas "Akashi" Vieira of Bigetron Sons, ECHO Philippines' Karl "KarlTzy" Nepomuceno, Zikry "Moon" Shamsuddin of Todak, and symbolism from Johnmar "OhMyV33Nus" Villaluna's "Queen" Pose. As of December 15, 2023, the Music Video has 2.5 million views on YouTube.
Championship skin
Following AP Bren's victory, news outlets and reports repeatedly asked about the hero that the team will pick in for their championship skin.[32] It was decided that AP Bren has chosen the Marksman hero "Brody" for their championship skin as it was a signature pick for the team when it was open during drafting phases.
On March 20, 2024, Mobile Legends announced through their Facebook Page that Brody will become the official championship skin for the team. However, Finals MVP David "FlapTzy" Canon will be co-designing the very first "Finals MVP Skin" which was the Fighter hero "Paquito" making M5 the first world championship series to have two championship skins: One for the team and One from the Finals MVP.[33]
Controversies
On October 28, the Philippines' MLBB M5 Greatest Players Nominees were unveiled prior to the Grand Finals stage between AP Bren and Blacklist International.[34] The nominees snubbed names such as Johnmar "OhMyV33Nus" Villaluna, Danerie "Wise" Del Rosario and Kiel Calvin "Oheb" Soriano during the announcement. Furthermore, during the MLBB M5 Trailer, little-to-no footage were depicted showing the MLBB M3 World Championships, to which Blacklist International won.
Del Rosario and Villaluna took to YouTube where they address the situation, finding out that one of the nominees, Nainglin "ACE" Swe of Myanmar was a part of a certain brand that was the reason why Del Rosario and Villaluna were snubbed during the nomination. Del Rosario and Villaluna are part of a legal-betting website named "Rivalry". According to the Greatest Players Nominee criteria, the VeeWise tandem looked onto the final criteria, "Not included in illegal activities, including promotion or soliciting." Both Del Rosario and Villaluna addressed the situation with Moonton privately alongside getting Tier One Entertainment, the management of Blacklist International to step in and communicate with Moonton.
On November 9, Swe has officially announced his withdrawal from the nomination from the Greatest Players, citing that he did not match one of he criteria from the nomination. This also ends the rift between Myanmar fans and Filipino fans whom are divided in the situation. The nominations for Soriano, Del Rosario and Villaluna are still not included to negate unintended misunderstandings.[35]
Related Research Articles
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang(MLBB) is a mobile multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game developed and published by Moonton, a subsidiary of ByteDance. The game was released in 2016 and grew in popularity, most prominently in Southeast Asia.
Aces Pro Bren Esports, commonly known as AP Bren, is a Southeast Asian professional esports organization based in the Philippines. It has competitive teams in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, CS:GO, PUBG, League of Legends, Overwatch, Hearthstone, Clash Royale, Arena of Valor, Rules of Survival, Valorant, and Tekken 7. In the Philippine esports league The Nationals, the team competes as Bren EPro. The organization was founded on 16 August 2017 by Bernard "Bren" Chong who is part of the Chong clan that owns World Balance.
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Mid Season Cup, referred to as MSC, is an annual international tournament for professional esport teams for the MOBA game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang hosted by Moonton in the middle of years, since 2017.
Burmese Ghouls is a professional esports organisation based in Yangon, Myanmar. The team was founded in 2016 and has been operating ever since. The organisation is currently operating in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and PUBG Mobile. The team also used to operate in Dota 2 and Arena of Valor. Burmese Ghouls also has a female division in Mobile Legends, named Burmese Ghouls Reinas.
The 2021 Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Southeast Asia Cup or commonly known as MSC 2021, was the fourth annual regional Southeast Asian Tournament for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, MSC 2021 was held virtually via an online livestream that was streamed and viewed by millions in the region. With a total prize pool of $150,000 after Moonton's announcement of a prize pool increase, the games were held from 7–13 June 2021. The Philippine team of Execration won the Tournament against another Philippine team in Blacklist International with Kelra as the winning MVP. This is the second title that the Philippines have won after Aether Main won the MSC Cup in 2018.
The Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championship is the annual professional Mobile Legends: Bang Bang world esports championship tournament for the game wherein teams worldwide would be facing off each other to become the world champion for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. The yearly tournament is presented by Moonton and has been held four times.
Blacklist International is a Southeast Asian esports organization under Tier One Entertainment. They manage competitive esports divisions in PUBG, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Garena Free Fire, Call of Duty: Mobile and Apex Legends.
FNATIC ONIC Philippines is a Filipino Mobile Legends: Bang Bang esports team that has participated in the MPL Philippines since Season 4. The team was formerly known as Dream High Gaming before MPL-PH Season 4 (2019) and as ONIC Philippines before their partnership with British esports organization Fnatic in 2024, during MPL-PH Season 13. The team is a sister team of ONIC Esports, an Indonesian organization that fields its own MLBB team in the MPL Indonesia.
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League Philippines (MPL-PH) is a professional Esports league for the game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang in the Philippines. MPL Philippines is the direct route of qualified teams to both the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championship and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Mid Season Cup. MPL Philippines currently follows a franchise-based system, wherein eight teams are currently competing as and officially removing local team qualifiers, previously evident during MPL Philippines Season 7.
Liquid ECHO, is a Southeast Asian based esports team under the franchise of Team Liquid, a Dutch-based organization. The team currently participates as a professional and amateur Mobile Legends: Bang Bang team for MPL Philippines and MDL Philippines, respectively.
The 2021 Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championship, commonly known as M3 or the M3 World Championship, was the third edition of the Mobile Legends World Championships, an esports tournament for the game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. It was held from 6 December until its Grand Finals on 19 December 2021 in Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre in Singapore.
The MPL Philippines Season 10 is the tenth season of the MPL Philippines. The season began on August 12, 2022, and ended on October 23, 2022. The season served as the Philippine Qualifiers for the MLBB M4 World Championships slated on January 1–15, 2023. It was won by Blacklist International.
The 2022 Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championship, commonly referred to as the M4 World Championship and M4, was the fourth edition of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championship, an esports tournament for the mobile game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.
Johnmar Villaluna, professionally known as OhMyV33NUS, is a Filipino Mobile Legends: Bang Bang player. He currently plays as a support and team captain for Blacklist International. He has also played for ONIC Philippines.
The Mobile Legends: Bang BangProfessional League Indonesia, better known as MPL Indonesia or MPL-ID, is a regional professional esports league for the game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang in Indonesia. MPL-ID serves as the direct qualifying tournament for Indonesian teams for the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Mid Season Cup (MSC) and the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championship.
The 2023 Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Southeast Asia Cup, commonly referred as MSC 2023, was the sixth iteration of the tournament MLBB Southeast Asia Cup for the game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.
TNC Pro Team, commonly known as TNC Pro Team ML, is a Southeast Asian multi-gaming organization of Philippine net cafe chain TheNet.Com. TNC Pro Team competes in the game of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.
Kairi Ygnacio Rayosdelsol, known professionally as simply Kairi, is a Filipino professional esports player for the game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. He is the current jungler for Indonesian team ONIC Esports.
The 2024 MPL Philippines Season is the seventh year of professional gameplay and the second year of development talent gameplay for the country. MPL Philippines is a professional esports league for the MOBA game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. The season will be divided into two splits: Season 13 is accompanied by MDL Philippines Season 3, and Season 14, accompanying it will be MDL Season 4. Season 13 will begin by March 15 and conclude the season with the Grand Finals match on May 26, 2024. Meanwhile, Season 14 will likely begin by August and end by November.
The 2023 MPL Philippines season was the sixth year of professional Esports competitions for the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League of the Philippines. The 2023 season features two seasonal splits: MPL Philippines Season 11 and MPL Philippines Season 12. It was during this year that the inaugural Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Development League was introduced to the Philippines with MDL Philippines Season 1 occurring as the preceding event prior to MPL Philippines Season 11.
1 Previously known as Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Southeast Asia Cup until 2023.
2 Previously known as Bren Esports until 2023.
3 Previously known as Nexplay EVOS until 2023.
4 Team Liquid acquired AURA Esports in 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Philippines 
ONIC Esports 
