Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Mid Season Cup, (previously known as Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Southeast Asia 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 during the halfway point of each year split since 2017.
On 1 January 2024, Moonton announced the rebranding of the formerly SEA-based tournament from "Southeast Asia Cup" to the "Mid Season Cup" as the first international tournament before the second leg of MLBB professional leagues.[1] The Mid Season Cup will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This year saw the introduction of the wildcard format, which will bring in eight international teams to fight for a slot in the group stage happening in July.
The inaugural Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Southeast Asia Cup was held at the Mall Taman Anggrek in Jakarta, Indonesia from September 1st to 3rd, 2017. MSC 2017 was the inaugural and smallest MSC iteration with only eight teams competing. Hosted by game developers Moonton, the first iteration of MSC was designed for the growing Mobile Legends: Bang Bang communities teams in Southeast Asia primarily Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, and Thailand.
The tournament was played on a double-elimination playoff bracket format with all matches excluding the Grand Finals being Best-of-threes (Bo3). Thailand's IDONOTSLEEP were crowned the inaugural MSC champions after sweeping the Philippine team Salty Salad in the Grand Finals 3-0. As of 2025, this is the only MSC title outside of the "Maphilindo" sphere of regions in MLBB.[2]
The second iteration of MSC was held from 27–29 July 2018 at the Jakarta International Expo again in Jakarta, Indonesia.[3] The second iteration of MSC expanded the team participation from eight to ten with three of the first major professional leagues of MLBB—MPL Indonesia, MPL Philippines, and MPL MYSG—sending two of their teams each, primarily the champions and the runner-up teams of the very first professional seasons. Included in the qualified teams are three other qualifying regions from Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia, notably IDONOTSLEEP, the defending MSC champions qualified to defend its title.
The group stage format was introduced for the second iteration with all teams being split into two groups to play a single round-robin, Best-of-3 (Bo3) to qualify to the knockout stage. The top two teams from both groups will qualify to the said stage. The Philippines' champions Aether Main won the Philippines' first of three MSC titles after sweeping the Season 1 runner-up of MPL Philippines Digital Devils Pro, 3–0.[4]
The third iteration of MSC was held for the first time in the Philippines from 19–23 June 2019 at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, Philippines.[5] The third iteration saw the adoption of the group stage format from the second iteration and the double-elimination playoff bracket from the first iteration of the tournament. Moreover, the team participation was expanded from ten teams to twelve. In the very same year, Moonton would unveil its year-ending tournament, the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championship, the first world championship series for the games.[6] In this third iteration of MSC, MPL Myanmar's champions and runner-up now made up the main eight teams coming from the MPL regions while three teams from Thailand, Cambodia and Laos qualified for this event. Defending champions Bren Esports (formerly Aether Main's roster) qualified as the runner-up team from MPL Philippines Season 3.
All twelve teams were split into four groups of three teams with the top 1 from each group advancing to the upper-bracket while the bottom 2 advanced to the inaugural play-in tournament. Four teams qualified for the lower-bracket in the play-in tournament while the four top teams competed in the upper bracket. MPL Indonesia's champions ONIC Esports swept fellow indonesian team and runner-up Louvre Esports in the Grand Finals, 3–0. This is ONIC Esports' first of two MSC titles in its organization's history, the most by any team.[7] Notably, this was the Philippines' worst performance in MSC to date, with ArkAngel getting swept in the lower-bracket finals by Louvre.[8]
2020
The supposed fourth iteration of MSC was cancelled due to the travel restrictions imposed by countries in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.[9]
The fifth iteration of MSC was held online due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. All teams participating were in their respective boot camps or a single structure during the competition, in particular, Blacklist International and Execration, the Philippine representatives competed in the same room together during MSC 2021 split by just a simple barrier.
MSC 2021 saw the second Philippines vs. Philippines Grand Finals in MSC history with Blacklist International facing up against Execration. Blacklist, the Season 7 champions swept Indonesia's EVOS Legends in the upper bracket finals 3-0 while Execration, the season 7 runner-up won in four games against EVOS in the lower bracket finals. Unlike the season 7 grand finals, MSC 2021 saw Execration win the MSC 2021 title 4-1.[10] Grant "Kelra" Pillas was named Finals MVP.[11]
2022
The sixth iteration of MSC was the first since 2019 to be held on an offline event at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[12] Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, restrictions for MSC 2022 remained tightly regulated especially with the presence of a crowd for the first time in two years. MSC 2019 was held from 11–19 June 2022. The sixth iteration of MSC saw the adoption of MSC 2019's group stage and knockout stage format excluding the play-in tournament. MSC 2019's group stage qualifies the top 2 teams in each of the four groups to the knockouts with the bottom team being eliminated outright.
MPL Indonesia Season 9 champions RRQ Hoshi won over MPL Philippines Season 9 champions RSG Philippines in the upper-bracket finals to deliver Indonesia's first grand finals appearance in three years.[13] RSG Philippines would win 3-2 against Season 9 runner-up Smart Omega and defending Finals MVP Pillas.[14] RSG Philippines would sweep RRQ Hoshi 4-0 to win the Philippines third and, as of 2025, last MSC title.[15] Emman "EMMAN" Sangco was named Finals MVP.[16]
The seventh and final iteration of MSC as the Southeast Asian Cup was held from 10–18 June 2023 in AEON Mall Mean Chey in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the first tournament held outside of the Maphilindo sphere.[17] MSC 2023 showcased the first international participation of teams from the Middle East and North African region (MENA), North America (NA), and Turkey with Team Occupy, Outplay and Fire Flux Impunity representing their regions, respectively.[18] Similar to MSC 2022, the group stage format was adopted however, MSC 2023 would return the single-elimination playoff bracket for the first time since MSC 2018.[19]
AEON Mall Mean Chey, the venue for MSC 2023
MPL Indonesia Season 11 champions and MSC 2019 champions ONIC Esports returns to the MSC Grand Finals for the first time since 2019 after sweeping MPL Philippines Season 11 champions ECHO Philippines in the Semifinals.[20] MPL Philippines Season 11 runner-up and MSC 2021 runner-up Blacklist International returns to the MSC Grand Finals for the first time since 2021 after they won 3-1 against home-town team BURN x Flash in the Semifinals.[21] ONIC Esports would bring the MSC title back to Indonesia—and an international title by technicality—for the first time in four years after winning against Blacklist International 4-2.[22] Nicky "Kiboy" Fernando was named Finals MVP.[23]
The first iteration of the rebranded "Mid-Season Cup" was held from 28 June to the 14 July 2024 in Boulevard City, Saudi Arabia. The Mid-Season Cup was held for the first time outside of Southeast Asia and for the first time in MENA after MSC was put as one of the main tournaments for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang in the inaugurated global esports tournament, the Esports World Cup.[24][25] MSC 2024 inaugurated the participation of six new regions: Latin America (LATAM), China, Mekong (primarily Vietnam), Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA), South Asia (primarily Nepal), and Mongolia. MSC 2024 adopted the Wild Card stage for the first time in tournament history after it was previously used during the MLBB M5 World Championships.[26] Alluding to the group stage format of MSC 2023, the top two teams from four groups would advance to the knockout stage with MSC 2024 adopting the single-elimination knockout bracket.
Boulevard City, the venue for MSC 2024 and 2025, and the venue of the Esports World Cup.
MPL Malaysia Season 13 champions Selangor Red Giants swept MPL Singapore Season 7 champions NIP Flash while MPL Philippines Season 13 runner-up Falcons AP Bren won 3-1 against Season 13 champions Liquid ECHO.[27][28] MSC 2024 was primarily significant because this is the first iteration of a Philippines vs. Malaysia Grand Finals. Notably, MSC 2024, to date, was the worst performance by Indonesia with none of its representative qualifying for the knockout stage., notably defending champions Fnatic ONIC Indonesia[29][30] Selangor Red Giants won the MSC 2024 title, 4-3 against Falcons AP Bren, the first Malaysian team to win the MSC tournament and the first international title for Malaysia. Muhammad Haqqullah "Sekys" Ahmad Shahrul Zaman was named Finals MVP.[31][32]
The second iteration of the Mid-Season Cup returned to the 2025 Esports World Cup from 10 July to the 2 August 2025. This is the second time since MSC 2017 and 2018 that back-to-back iterations of the tournament will be held in the same country and region.[33] Defending champions Selangor Red Giants OG Esports was defeated in their title repeat campaign by the Philippines' Team Liquid PH who won the MSC 2025 title 4-1. Sanford "Sanford" Vinuya was named Finals MVP.
Format
Two teams from Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional Leagues (MPL) in different Southeast Asian countries are invited to MSC. For countries without MPL, local qualifiers are hosted. The tournaments start with a group stage where teams fight for the spot in the upper bracket through the best of 3 round robin. Teams winning the best of 3 in the group stage get the spot in the upper bracket. The other two teams compete on play-ins where the winning team gets to the lower bracket and the losing team is eliminated. After the group stage is the tournament proper. Losing teams from the upper bracket are demoted to the lower bracket while losing teams from the lower bracket are eliminated. One finalist will come from each bracket and compete in the Grand Finals.[34] From 2017 to 2019, the Grand Finals are played in best of 5, but since the 2021 version, it is played in best of 7.
For documentary purpose only, according to their majority of players, teams from CIS region: Team Spirit based in Serbia and Virtus.pro based in Armenia, both will represent Russia.
NACT Spring 2025 Winner BloodThirstyKing then signed by Indian esports organization S8UL Esports,[44] was unable to participate due to failing to meet the tournament's minimum roster requirements after two of their players were disqualified for breaching official tournament rules. NACT Spring 2025 Runner-up Area 77 was selected to replace their slot by the tournament committee.[45]
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Team Liquid PH (1st title)
ONIC Esports (2 titles)
