Blacklist to face wildcard contender, Turkey, Brazil champs

MANILA - A rematch between two resurgent teams will headline the group stages of the Philippine-hosted M5 World Championships, which will be held at the EVM Convention Center.

MPL Season 12 champions AP Bren, which rebranded from M2 World Championship team Bren Esports, will be facing Burmese Ghouls, an organization the Bren franchise faced in Singapore en route to their first world title.

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This Burmese Ghouls squad, however, will be fielding an entirely new group heading into the world championship.

Bren Esports defeated Burmese Ghouls in the M2 World Championships last January 21 for their landmark world title. It was in 2023 when they found resurgence as they rebranded to AP Bren.

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Joining AP Bren in their group is Singapore's Team Flash, with Pinoy Jaymark "Hadess" Lazaro making his world stage debut, and the 2nd seeded team in the M5 Wildcard phase.

Meanwhile, Blacklist International will face Turkey's FireFlux, three-time MPL Brazil champion RRQ Akira, and the first-seed in the wildcard championships.

Reigning MSC 2023 champions Onic Esports, with Kairi "Kairi" Rayosdelsol at its helm, will be grouped with Cambodia champs SeeYouSoon and Brazil's Bigetron Sons. SeeYouSoon has Pinoys Michael "MPDKing" Endino and Clarence "Kousei" Camilo. Joining them is Saudi Arabia's Triple Esports coach Lyrick, who is also Filipino,

Group D will have Allen "Baloyskie" Baloy and Mark "Markyyy" Capacio's Geek Fam square off with North America's TheOhioBrothers, Malaysia's HomeBois, and EECA's Deus Vult.

The wild card phase of M5 will be held in Malaysia, while the main event will be held at the EVM Convention Center and the Rizal Memorial Stadium.

AP Bren and Blacklist will represent the country as the Philippines seeks four consecutive MLBB world titles.