Courtesy: Moonton Games
MANILA (UPDATE) - The Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Southeast Asia Cup will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia this June, developers Moonton Games announced Wednesday, as the Philippines seeks to take home two straight titles from the competition.
After a year of being held remotely, and the 2020 installment being cancelled amid the COVID-19 threat, the tournament will now be held offline.
"This year's tournament marks its return to an offline LAN competition," Moonton Games said in a statement forwarded to reporters.
The tournament will be held on June 11-19, and 12 teams will compete to become Southeast Asia's best squad as well as the lion's share of the $300,000 (P15 million) prize pool.
Two Philippine teams, particularly the champions and the runners-up of the on-going ML:BB Professional League Season 9 (MPL Season 9), will participate.
Among the participating countries is Myanmar, which did not compete in last year's installment following a coup that transpired at the time.
Filipino squad Execration, whose roster is now with Omega Esports, is the reigning champions after drubbing Blacklist International in an all-Filipino SEA finals showdown, 4-1, last year.
Since the tournament's inception in 2017, Philippine teams have taken home the MSC title twice, with Aether Main emerging as champions in 2018 and Execration winning in 2021.
The last offline MSC tournament was held in Araneta Coliseum, with Filipino squad ArkAngel placing third.