MANILA - Less than a week after winning the Mobile Legends world title in Jakarta, Echo Philippines will be participating in national esports team Sibol's qualifiers to the ML tournament in the 2023 Southeast Asian Games.

Karl "KarlTzy" Nepomuceno, Tristan "Yawi" Cabrera, Alston "Sanji" Pabico, Sanford "Sanford" Vinuya and M4 world championship Finals MVP Fredric "BennyQT" Gonzales will be duking up against a mix of amateur and professional ML:BB teams as they gear up for SEA Games qualification starting Saturday.

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Echo is one of four teams that received a direct invite to the SEA Games qualifiers, aside from Lyceum of the Philippines University Pirates, a slot allotted to the champion of the RealMe Cup, and Blacklist International, who will be fielding their young core alongside ex-Nexplay EVOS standout Renejay "Renejay" Bacarse and newbie Ian Jakob "Rindo" Seguiran.

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The phase one of the open qualifiers are still underway, with phase 2, where the directly invited teams will be participating, will be happening from Jan. 25 to 26.

The qualified teams will undergo a draft combine which will happen from Feb. 6-8.

The Philippines will be defending ML gold in the Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia.