The Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championship (abbreviated as M World or M-Series) 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 six times.
The most recent tournament was the MLBB M6 World Championship or referred to as M6 held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Philippines' Fnatic ONIC Philippines defeated the Indonesian representatives Team Liquid Indonesia 4–1. The finals were held at the Axiata Arena, the same venue for the world championships from the inaugural M1 World series. This effectively prolongs the Philippines' dominance in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, defeating two indonesian squads in two-consecutive years.[1] Moreover, the M6 World Championship finals ranked second overall with the highest viewership peak for 2024 at 4.1 million peak viewers.[2]
Background
The very first World Championship was held in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. Over 16 teams competed from Asia, South America and Europe namely Brazil, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Russia, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.[3] In the end, EVOS Legends and Rex Regum Qeon battled in the Grand Finals by a Best of 7. In the Finals, EVOS Legends would go on to win the World Championship in 7 Games and they were named as the first World Championship. With the Prize Pool at $250,000, Team EVOS Legends would go on to bring home $80,000, and the MVP winning $3,000.[4][3][5]
The Second World Championship were set to be held in a public venue before the COVID-19 pandemic hit worldwide that had cancelled the public M2 World Championship games. However, the Second Championship were to continue as it was held on January 18 to 24, 2021. The original venue of the Second World Championship were to be in Jakarta in Indonesia but was moved to Singapore. M2 featured over 12 teams from different nations from the entire world like Brazil and Russia, but was completely dominated by Asia-based esports teams like Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Singapore.[6] The defending champions of EVOS Legends did not participate in the said Championship, however, their Singaporean branch qualified to compete.[7] Among the twelve teams, the Philippines esports team Bren Esports was crowned the champion by defeating Burmese Ghouls in seven games. [8]
The Third World Championship was held in Singapore for the second time on December 6–19, 2021.[citation needed]
History
The M1 World Championship
The first world championship was held in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia wherein over 16 teams flew to Malaysia and competed for the title of World Champion in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. M1 marked the first ever world-wide competition for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. Through Local Qualifiers and Professional Esports Leagues, the first iteration of MLBB's world series was primarily made up of teams from Brazil, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam. The Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League (MPL) sent two teams from Indonesia, Malaysia/Singapore, Myanmar and the Philippines.[5] The tournament was held from November 10 to 17, 2019. With a prize pool of $250,000, the games began with the Group Stages wherein teams were drawn and divided before the competition into four groups, each containing 4 teams. These teams would face off each other to fight for a spot in both the upper and lower brackets of the playoffs. Two teams would advance and two teams would be eliminated from the group stages. Indonesia's two representatives, EVOS Legends and RRQ (Rex Regum Qeon), Myanmar's Burmese Ghouls, and Malaysia's Todak, managed to qualify for the upper bracket spots, while Japan's 10s Gaming+, The Philippine's Sunsparks, Vietnam's VEC Fantasy Main, and Malaysia' other representative Axis Esports qualified for the remaining playoff spots in the lower bracket.[9][10][11]
The first ever grand finals of the world series saw the representatives of the same country, EVOS Legends and RRQ (Rex Regum Qeon) of Indonesia, in a long, best-of-seven series. EVOS Legends became the first World Champions after winning against RRQ in a tight matchup that went all the way to 7 games.[12] EVOS Legends would bring home $80,000 and an additional $3,000 for the finals MVP of the tournament, Eko “Oura” Julianto.[13]
The second iteration of the world series was originally going to take place in Jakarta, Indonesia[14] but was postponed and moved to Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Then-Current Champions EVOS Legends failed to qualify for M2 after being eliminated from the playoffs of the sixth season of MPL-ID. In EVOS' absence, RRQ Hoshi and Alter Ego, the two grand finalists of the sixth season, represented Indonesia at M2, carrying on the heavy burden of defending Indonesia's throne as the best region in the world.[7] The Second World Championship welcomed a narrowed down total of 12 teams to Singapore to compete and become the new world champions. Teams of the United States, Laos, Vietnam and Turkey did not represent their countries and teams in the second edition of the games. The prize pool for the second iteration was increased from $250,000 to $300,000. With the same format as the first World Championship, the Games were held from 18 to 24 January 2021 after its dates were moved to wait for the easing of COVID-19 pandemic the restrictions in Singapore. Among the 12 teams, the Philippines' own Bren Esports and Myanmar's Burmese Ghouls qualified to battle in the Grand Finals.[15] After a grueling series that lasted for 7 games just like M1, Bren Esports proudly secured the championship after pulling off a massive victory in the tightly matched final game, making them the first ever Filipino team to win the MLBB world title. Later on, Moonton would also release a limited edition Bren Esports skin in honor of Bren's victory, a privilege that Moonton also handed to EVOS Legends after they won the first world Championship in 2019 as a tribute to their victory. Ultimately, Bren chose their signature jungle hero Lancelot for their honorary skin as a tribute to the finals MVP of the tournament, Karl "KarlTzy" Gabriel Nepomuceno.[citation needed]
The third iteration of the world series began on 6 December and ended on the 19th in the year of 2021. M3 marked the second time the world series for Mobile Legends took place in Singapore. It was also held offline.[16] Similar to its first iteration, M3 welcomed 16 teams from different regions around the world to compete and become the best team in the world. New MPL franchise teams like SeeYouSoon from MPL Cambodia, as well as RED Canids and Vivo Keyd from MPL Brazil, participated in the tournament. Moreover, non-MPL teams from the United States, Russia, Middle East, and Latin America (LATAM) also joined the bid for the world title. Unlike M2, Myanmar and Japan were not able to join the third edition of the world championship. Additionally, M3 saw the prize pool increase from $300,000 to $800,000.[17]
After two grueling weeks of world-class action in the land of dawn, Blacklist International was hailed as the new world champions after defeating their fellow countrymen ONIC Philippines with a clean 4–0 sweep, breaking the tradition of the final match of the world championship going all the way to 7 games. Blacklist International's total shutout against Onic PH would mark the first ever sweep in the grand finals of the world stage. The M3 finals also marked the second time the world championship had representatives from the same nation become the grand finalists. Kiel "Oheb" Calvin Q. Soriano, the team's Gold Laner who was notoriously known throughout the tournament as the "Filipino Sniper", was crowned as the finals MVP. When he was asked which hero he wanted for Blacklist's honorary skin, he chose Estes, which is the team's signature pick and the very engine of their infamous "UBE" strategy. With their triumphant victory, Blacklist International became the second Filipino team to win the world title.[citation needed]
Blacklist International is the first team to win the World Championship that has disbanded its MLBB roster in 2025.[18]
The fourth iteration of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang world series began on 1 January and ended on the 15th of the same month in 2023. The fourth global tournament was held in Jakarta, Indonesia. Like its M1 and M3 counterpart, the tournament was played in an offline setup. It featured 16 teams from different regions around the world. MPL-franchise teams from Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Brazil, and MENA (Middle East and North Africa), as well as non-MPL qualifiers from the United States, Latin America, and Mekong (Myanmar, Lao PDR, Thailand, and Vietnam) will participate. This tournament saw the omission of previous participants from the Commonwealth of Independent States due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[citation needed]
The prize pool was similar to the M3 World Championships, amounting to US$800,000.[citation needed]
In the final match up, two Filipino teams meet once again at the grand stage to claim the M4 World Championship. Defending champions and upper bracket finalists Blacklist International battled lower bracket winners ECHO Philippines in a best-of-seven series. After a world-class performance, ECHO Philippines won the championship against the defending champion Blacklist by sweeping the latter with a 4–0 run. Benedict "Bennyqt" Gonzales won the finals MVP award.[19]
As revealed in the latest MLBB Esports 2023 roadmap, the fifth iteration of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang world series will be held in the Philippines in December 2023.[20]
The Philippines and Malaysia became the official hosts for the MLBB M5 World championships with the Philippines holding the major events such as the group and knockout stages while Malaysia will hold the first MLBB World Championship Wild Card matches.[21] The Philippines will hold the Group Stage and Knockouts at the EVM Convention Center from December 2 to 12 while the Grand Finals will occur in the Rizal Memorial Coliseum, the venue for several Southeast Asian Games venues in 2019.[citation needed]
Prior to the M5 World Championships, Moonton, the game developers of MLBB announced the votings for the M-Series 5th Anniversary 10 Greatest Players Award, individual recognition and awards for players who made significant impacts for the game and their country during the course of the MLBB World Championships.[22] Certain controversies plagued the nomination process for the awards from Filipino players Johnmar "OhMyV33Nus" Villaluna and Danerie James "Wise" Del Rosario for their affiliation with the online-betting site Rivalry[23] and the snubbing of the MLBB M3 World Championships Finals MVP, Kiel Calvin "OHEB" Soriano. The VEEWISE duo, as Villaluna and Del Rosario are known for, argued that Burmese nominee and MLBB player Naing Lin "ACE" Swe was affiliated to a different online-betting site which violated certain criterions released by Moonton. This caused allegations and heated conversations from both Filipino and Burmese fans. On 10 November, Swe announced his withdrawal from the nomination and Moonton later released an announcement regarding his withdrawal.[24]
The awardee winners were released on 10 December 2023.[25]
The Grand Finals saw the first Philippines vs. Indonesia match in the entirety of the M-Series. The Philippines' AP Bren won the MLBB M5 World Championships, defeating upper bracket foe ONIC Esports in seven games despite AP Bren holding a 3–1 series lead prior to ONIC's Game 7 push. Regardless, AP Bren became the first organization to win two world titles and the first team to win the world championships on home soil.[26]
The MLBB M6 World Championships returned to Malaysia for this iteration of the tournament. Malaysia previously hosted the M1 World Championships in 2019 in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia's hosting of the MLBB M6 World Championships is significant for the country's continual success in the MLBB scene where they defeated powerhouses Philippines and Indonesia in their campaign for international championships in MSC 2024 and at the IESF World Championships where Malaysian representatives defeated Philippine representatives twice.[27][28]
The M6 World Championship featured the second edition of the wild card system where a pool of teams from different competing regions will have the chance to qualify to the newly adopted Swiss Stage. The Swiss Stage is a set of tournament draws and matches of Best of 1s and 3s to determine teams that will qualify to the knockout stage. The Swiss Stage is used as the system format for the League of Legends World Championship since the 2023 edition.[29]
The M6 World Championship is the first iteration since M1 that the Philippines only had one team to qualify for the knockout stage. This has not happened since 2019 with succeeding editions featuring at least two Filipino teams in the knockout stage or even in the Finals.[30] This edition also featured the first two-team pool from the Turkish region where S2G Esports and Ulfhednar qualified for Swiss.
The Philippines' Fnatic ONIC Philippines clinched a 3–1 upper bracket series victory over Indonesian champions Team Liquid ID. They advanced to the Grand Finals, marking the fifth-consecutive year that the Philippines has made it to a world championship finals series. Fnatic ONIC Philippines have made it to their best finish yet in the Worlds series as they secure second place during M3.[31] A rematch between Team Liquid ID and Fnatic ONIC Philippines was held in the Grand Finals, where ONIC ultimately won in five games, 4-1. This is the second-consecutive series that a Filipino and Indonesian team matched up in the Grand Finals.
The M1, M3 and M4 editions of the world championships witnessed an all Philippine or Indonesian Grand Finals, thus having two editions in either of the four final positions. M2, M5, and now M6 are from the three of the iterations of the world championship that does not see a forseable Philippines vs. Philippines Grand Finals.[40][41][42]
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Fnatic ONIC PH (1st title)
