MANILA, Philippines — ECHO Proud is the first-ever Mobile Legends Development League (MDL)-Philippines champion after a dominant 3-1 performance against Gamelab Alpha.
Led by veteran roamer Jaypee “Jaypee” Dela Cruz — whose past achievements include back-to-back Professional League titles when he was part of Sunsparks and most recently a world championship title when he substituted for ECHO roamer Tristan "Yawi" Cabrera during the M4 World Championship Group Stages — ECHO Proud finished the MDL Regular Season at the top of Group B and breezed through the playoffs to book their slot in the grand finals.
Likewise, Game Lab Alpha had a dominant regular season with a five-game winning streak to top Group A. They swept Blacklist Academy in the playoffs to set up a clash between the top teams in the development league.
The best-of-five series saw ECHO Proud dismantling GameLab's heroes with a 14-3 and 20-3 kill count to propel the Orcas to match point. Backed into a corner, GameLab's Vincent “Takanega” Monilla on the hero Fanny with teammate's Jermaine "Aizawa" Fernandez' MVP plays on the Valentina managed to prolong the series after a strong 7-22 Game 3 victory.
Not wanting to turn the match-up into a series, ECHO Proud's goldlaner Jhonville "Outplayed" Villar secured a crucial triple kill to dismantle GameLab's base defense and secure the first MDL Championship title.