MANILA, Philippines — Sibol has once again conquered the Men's Mobile Legends in the Southeast Asian Games with their third consecutive gold medal after sweeping Malaysia, 3-0, in the finals.
Avenging their earlier group stage loss to the team, Sibil had a dominant start in Game 1, but a misstep on the side of the Filipino team led to Malaysia having a late-game resurgence. It was by the 25th minute by the lord that Sibol got the chance to end the game, downing three Malaysian players to take the base.
Sibol had another aggressive start in Game 2, but Malaysia's impressive defensive plays prolonged the game until the 21st minute when the Filipinos’ lord and the combined damage brought the defending champions on the cusp of a golden three-peat.
Not wanting to turn the match-up into a series, Sibol went all out in Game 3, finishing the match in just 11 minutes to continue the Philippines' winning streak in Mobile Legends.
Redemption from MPL PH Season 11
The team, composed of BREN Esports' Angelo "Pheww" Arcangel, Michael "KyleTzy" Sayson, David "Flaptzy" Canon, Rowgien "Owgwen" Unigo and Marco "Super Marco" Requitano, along with Onic Philippines’ Nowee "Ryota" Macasa considers their latest triumph as redemption from their first round playoffs' exit in the recently concluded Mobile Legends Professional League-Philippines. ONIC Philippines ended in fifth-sixth place while BREN Esports finished fourth, after being the top seed during the regular season.
"Yung run namin sa playoffs, kung baga medyo shaky. Kami ata yung unang top seed na nalaglag kaagad at nag-fourth place. Ang ginawa na lang naman is ginawa namin siyang motivation," said Sayson in the post-match interview.
Captain Arangel added that the lessons they learned from the playoffs, like respect bans on signature and comfort heroes, were things they applied in the SEA Games and helped them win the gold.
For his part, ONIC Philippines' Macasa also added that he was happy to reach a grand finals in a Mobile Legends event for once.
"Masaya ako. Lagi akong first round exit sa ML. Ngayon umabot ng grand finals," joked Macasa.
Dreams fulfilled and history made
For Sibol head coach Francis "Ducky" Glindro, it had been a dream come true to coach a gold-winning team.
"It's very hard to explain but I'm really happy. I just want to say [to the players] I'm really proud of you guys, you've done very well. I couldn't be any more proud of you. Good job. If I can put it in one word [how I'm feeling], ecstatic, euphoric even," said Glindro during the post-match interview.
Glindro previously had the chance to coach Sibol's Mobile Legends team but when the pandemic delayed the games, things fell through as the national qualifiers were done differently than having an all-star lineup back in 2019 when Mobile Legends first featured in the games.
It was a team that included Angelo "Pheww" Arcangel, who made this his second Mobile Legends gold medal — the only player to have this accomplishment.
“Sobrang saya na nakuha ko yung gold medal. Kasi ano eh, ako lang yung sa MLBB na may [dalawang] gold medal [sa SEA Games so far],” said Arcangel.
Besides Arcangel's accomplishment, the win gives the Philippines another record three consecutive SEA Games gold medals in the same event. It also marked the country's continued success after three straight Mobile Legends world series titles (M2 won by BREN Esports, M3 won by Blacklist International, and M4 won by ECHO Philippines).