By Ashley Bercasio
The Philippine Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) scene has been in turmoil these past few days.
ONIC Philippines served as the epicenter of action as they parted ways with head coach Paul Denver “Coach Yeb” Miranda on June 20.
Coach Yeb served as ONIC PH’s tactician for two years and helped the team salvage a runner up finish in the MLBB M3 World Championship in December 2021 after losing to Blacklist International in the grand finals.
ONIC PH then announced the departures of players Mico “Microphobia” Quitlong, Kairi “Kairi” Rayosdelsol, Marky “MARKYYYYY” Carpaccio, Allen “Baloyskie” Baloy, Gerald “Dlar” Trinchera, and Jaylord “Hatred” Gonzalez.
Coach Yeb and Kairi joined forces anew after ONIC Esports Indonesia announced the pair as their newest members in a press conference on July 4.
Prior to the official announcement, there were already rumors that the two are already with the Indonesian team.
Eagle-eyed netizens saw Coach Yeb inside ONIC Indonesia’s dugout during the MLBB Southeast Asian Cup last June.
Kairi, meanwhile, was streaming inside ONIC Indonesia’s boot camp.
Before this mass departure from ONIC PH, head coach John Michael “Zico” Dizon also left NexPlay EVOS to coach the Cambodian squad Burn X Flash.
According to Philippine Esports Organization (PESO) Secretary-General Joebert Yu, this is not the first time that droves of Filipino Esports players went overseas in search of greener pastures.
“For DOTA 2, we have a lot of Filipino players that’ve been playing in international esports organizations like Evil Genius, Fnatic, BOOM Esports, they have Filipino DOTA 2 players that are playing for their organizations,” Yu said.
Yu mentioned the likes of Carlo “Kuku” Palad who’s playing for South Korea’s T1, Marco Polo Luis “Raven” Fausto who’s currently signed with United Kingdom’s Fnatic, and Timothy John Randrup of Indonesia’s BOOM Esports as prime examples.
“From a country standpoint, siyempre, I’m sad na maglalaro sila sa ibang bansa. On a personal standpoint though, I’m very, very, very happy that these players have the opportunity to play,” Yu remarked.
Asked what’s the reason behind the Filipino players’ exodus, Yu had a simple answer.
“When it comes to games like Mobile Legends, we have so many talents out here. There are so many skillful or well-known Mobile Legends players,” Yu said.
Only eight professional teams are competing at the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League (MPL) Philippines, but with thousands of Filipinos aspiring to become professional players, the supply, according to Yu, is just too high for the Filipino professional ML teams to accommodate.
“Sobrang daming talents, sobrang daming players,” said Yu.
“There are semi-professional teams that are currently playing but if you got a call from one of the MPLs outside the Philippines and says we want to employ you, maybe better offer, mas mataas na salary or better opportunity, siyempre that is an opportunity for a Filipino player to compete in a professional level.”
“It’s normal, as long as there’s opportunity for them to play professionally in other countries, I’m happy for them,” Yu ended. – ag
