US$800,000 Prize Money Up For Grabs As M3 Kicks Off in Singapore

The Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championships has kicked off in Singapore!

Top Mobile Legends: Bang Bang players are in the Republic as part of the 16 global teams taking part in the competition. In its third iteration – also known as M3 – the event will see teams, including those from new regions like Latin America and the Middle East, compete for a share of the US$800,000 prize money, the biggest for a single esports event for MLBB.

Group stages are now underway, with four teams seeded in four groups and they will face off against each other in a series of best-of-one games. 

TechStorm was at the event on Monday, when Group A’s Red Canids kicked off the event against tournament favourites Blacklist International. And while the Brazilian team put up a valiant fight in their international debut, it was the Filipino team that took the first win of the event – propelling them to the top of Group A and setting the tone for the rest of the Group games.

Game Two saw Turkey’s top team Bedel take on Latin America’s finest Malvinas Gaming. It was a close game throughout but Bedel’s masterful maneuvering saw them take the game from Malvinas. 

In Game Three, Bedel faced Blacklist International and started out strong but was eventually overwhelmed. 2-0 for Blacklist International.

For Game Four, Malvinas Gaming took on Red Canids with both sides going in looking for a win. Red Canids tried their best but Malvinas Gaming overtook them, putting them neck-and-neck on the leaderboard with Bedel. 

After a quick breather, Malvinas Gaming was back in the hot seat for Game Five, this time against Blacklist International. And despite grabbing an early lead, Malvinas was quickly overrun by the Filipino team and Blacklist International cleaned up shop in just under ten minutes, sending them to the top of the leaderboard with no losses in the group stage. 

For what should have been the last game on Monday, Red Canids were clearly desperate for a chance and forced a win against Bedel – evening out the last three team’s goals and resulting in a tie-breaker. 

The first tie-breaker saw a Latin America match-up with Red Canids facing off against Malvinas Gaming – and the Brazilian team blazed a path from the start as they pressed their advantage for another win.

The last game saw a rematch between Bedel and Red Canids – but it was not to be for the Brazilians as Bedel held their composure to push through for the final, hard-won win.

Blacklist International and Bedel now sit atop of the Group A leaderboard, cementing their advance into the upper bracket playoffs, which means they have a five-day break before their next game.

Blacklist’s Danerie ‘Wise’ Del Rosario said: “This is an advantage (for us) because we have more time to prepare. And we will use the days to practice because we’re here for the tournament.” 

“And the long break will allow us to explore Singapore,” quipped Blacklist’s Johnmar ‘OhMyV33nus’ Villaluna, “and visit Universal Studios.”

Bedel’s Osman “Paranoid” Karademir also said the team will be taking the next few days to improve on mistakes made in Monday’s game and said the team remained “motivated”.

The rest of the group stages continue on Tuesday and will last until Thursday. It will feature best-of-one games, before playoffs start from 11 December. 

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang is one of Southeast Asia’s most popular games – as of March this year, an estimated 78 million players log in monthly to play the game. 

This is the second time the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championships are being held in Singapore. In January, the island Republic also played host to M2, despite three players from one team testing positive for Covid-19. 

M3 will also be the first esports tournament since the Covid-19 pandemic started, to feature live audience members during the playoffs between 17 to 18 December. 

If you can’t make it in-person, the tournament is also being livestreamed on YouTube.  

M3 is underway and the finals will be held on 19 December 2021.  

*Featured image is from M3 in Singapore

By Samantha Chan \ 09:45am, 7 December 2021