MPL to compress schedule ahead of M5 preps
This is to 'give time for PH teams' to prepare
AP Bren considered as new team, Minana considered as new partnership

MPL Philippines will run on a more compressed schedule in its 12th season, ahead of the Philippine-hosted world championships, where the league will have two representatives.

In a virtual press conference Friday, Moonton Games esports marketing lead Harry Leonardo said they wanted to give time for Philippine teams to participate in third-party tournaments while allowing more time for the world championship representatives, which will be taken from this season's finalists, to train.

The league's regular season phase, held biannually, will now be conducted for six weeks, added by the playoffs.

"We started kind of late because of the other international tournaments, so generally the strategy is the conflict with our main tournaments and the other tournaments of third-party since we want to give them support and enough resources," Leonardo said.

He added: "We cannot extend the date of MPL PH because we are hosting M5 and it means much preparation for the winning team because they need more time to train."

Moonton Games regional PR manager Keith Medrano added that this addressed a concern some coaches and players, particularly of national esports team Sibol's current head coach Francis "Duckeyyy" Glindro, raised in the previous season.

Sibol's MLBB team currently has players from now AP Bren in its roster for events such as the 2023 Southeast Asian Games and the International Esports Federation (IESF) world championships in Iasi, Romania.

For now, however, league organizers cannot confirm if this will be a trend for later seasons as it depends on the future esports roadmap.

Games will run every Friday to Sunday, starting at 1 in the afternoon at the Shooting Gallery Studios, having three games daily.

In the previous seasons, Friday and Sunday schedules had two matches, while Saturday schedules had three.

TEAMS

New team AP Bren (with players from Bren Esports) will join Minana EVOS (formerly Nexplay EVOS), reigning champs ECHO, MPL S11 runner up Blacklist International, Onic Philippines, TNC Pro Team, Omega Esports, and RSG Philippines this season.

League organizers will consider AP Bren a new team as it changes its management. Players were previously managed by multi-titled esports team Bren Esports.

"We consider it [AP Bren] as a new team, replacing Bren Esports. Ang Minana since the owner is still EVOS it's not a new team but a new partnership," Leonardo said.

WHERE TO WATCH

Tickets will be distributed through Slash, with prices starting at P155 for the Silver match passes.

Gold match passes, the league's iteration of a day pass, will be P455.

Streams of the match will be available on MPL Philippines' Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube accounts, while match replays will also be available in ABS-CBN co-owned PIE Channel.