Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championship

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championship

Tournament information
Sport	Esports (Mobile Legends: Bang Bang)
Location	Worldwide
Established	2019
Number of tournaments	3
Administrator(s)	Moonton
Tournament format(s)	Group stage Single round-robin (2019–present) Main event Double elimination (2019–present)
Venue(s)	Kuala Lumpur (M1: 2019) Singapore (M2 and M3: 2021)
Participants	16 teams (M1: 2019 and M3: 2021) 12 teams (M2: 2021)
Website	worlds.mobilelegends.com
Current champion
Blacklist International
Most recent tournament
M3 2021

The Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championship is an annual international esports tournament for the game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang wherein teams worldwide would be facing off each other to become the Worldwide Champion for Mobile Legends. The yearly tournament is presented by Moonton and has been held thrice.

The most recent Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championship 2021, also known as M3, was held in December 2021.

Background

The very first World Championship was held in Klang 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. 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.

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. The defending champions of EVOS Legends did not participate in the said Championship, however, their Singaporean branch qualified to compete. Among the twelve teams, the Philippines esports team Bren Esports was crowned the champion by defeating Burmese Ghouls in seven games.

The Third World Championship is slated and was held in Singapore for the second time on December 6–19, 2021.

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. 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.

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. EVOS Legends would bring home $80,000 and an additional $3,000 for the finals MVP of the tournament, Eko “Oura” Julianto.

The M2 World Championship

The second iteration of the world series was originally going to take place in Jakarta, Indonesia 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. 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 the 18th of January to the 24th in the year of 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. 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.

The M3 World Championship

Further information: MLBB M3 World Championship

The third iteration of the world series began on the 6th of 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. 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.

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.

The M4 World Championship

Further information: MLBB M4 World Championship

The fourth iteration of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang world series is scheduled to begin on the 1st of January and end on the 15th of the same month in 2023. The location and the participating countries have yet to be revealed.

Viewership

Edition	Peak Viewers	Hours Watched	Average Viewers	Air Time
M1	648,069	9,939,023	162,050	61 hours
M2	3,083,245	42,706,210	689,737	62 hours
M3	3,191,404	62,618,894	602,588	104 hours
M4	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA

Participating regions

The number in each box represents the number of teams by region.

Region	M1	M2	M3	M4	Editions
Brazil	1	1	2		3
Cambodia	1	1	1		3
Commonwealth of Independent States	–	–	1		1
Indonesia	2	2	2		3
Japan	1	1	–		2
Laos	1	–	–		1
Malaysia	2	1	2		3
Middle East and North Africa	–	–	1		1
Myanmar	1	1	0		2
Peru	–	–	1		1
Philippines	2	2	2		3
Russia	1	1	–		2
Turkey	1	–	1		2
United States	1	–	1		2
Vietnam	1	–	–		1

Participating teams

M1 World Championship (2019)

Team	Seed
GeO Esports	Brazil Local Qualifiers
Impunity KH	Cambodia Local Qualifiers
EVOS Legends	MPL-ID S4 Champion
RRQ Hoshi	MPL-ID S4 Runner-Up
10s Gaming+	Japan Local Qualifiers
Candy Comeback	Thailand and Laos Local Qualifiers
TODAK	MPL-MY Runner-up
AXIS Esports	MPL-MY 4th place
Burmese Ghouls	MPL-MM S3 Champion
SunSparks	MPL-PH S4 Champion
ONIC Esports PH	MPL-PH S4 Runner-up
Deus Vult	Russia Local Qualifiers
EVOS Esports SG	MPL-MY S4 Champion
EVIL Esports	Turkey Local Qualifiers
Team GOSU	US Local Qualifiers
VEC Fantasy Main	360 Mobi Championship S3 Champion

M2 World Championship (2020)

Team	Seed
Dreammax	Brazil Local Qualifiers
Impunity KH	Cambodia Local Qualifiers
RRQ Hoshi	MPL-ID S6 Champion
Alter Ego Esports	MPL-ID S6 Runner-Up
10s Gaming Frost	Japan Local Qualifiers
TODAK	MPL-MY/SG S6 Champion
Burmese Ghouls	MPL-MM S5 Champion
Bren Esports	MPL-PH S6 Champion
OMEGA Esports	MPL-PH S6 Runner-Up
Unique Devu	Russia Local Qualifiers
EVOS Esports SG	MPL-MY/SG S6 Runner-Up
RSG SG	MPL-MY/SG S6 Second Runner-Up

M3 World Championship (2021)

Team	Seed
EVOS Esports SG	MPL-SG S2 Champion
RSG SG	MPL-SG S2 Runner-up
ONIC Esports ID	MPL-ID S8 Champion
RRQ Hoshi	MPL-ID S8 Runner-up
Blacklist International	MPL-PH S8 Champion
ONIC Philippines	MPL-PH S8 Runner-up
Team SMG	MPL-MY S8 Champion
Todak	MPL-MY S8 Runner-up
Red Canids	MPL-BR S1 Champion / LATAM Championship 2021 Champion
Vivo Keyd	MPL-BR S1 Runner-up / LATAM Championship 2021 Runner-up
See You Soon	MPL-KH S1 Champion
BloodThirstyKings	M3 North American Qualifier Champion
GX Squad	M3 Arabia Major 2nd Runner Up (Replaced Akatsuki)
Natus Vincere	Mobile Legends Mythic League CIS Champion
Bedel Esports	Mobile Legends Turkey Championship 2021 Champion
Malvinas Gaming	LATAM Championship 2021 Champion

Results

Winners

Best of 7 Games

Year	Venue/Host	Upper bracket winner	Score	Lower bracket winner
M1	Malaysia	EVOS Legends	4–3	RRQ Hoshi
M2	Singapore	Burmese Ghouls	3–4	Bren Esports
M3	Singapore	ONIC Philippines	0–4	Blacklist International
M4	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA