Philippine esports body confident in Team SIBOL's chances of regaining the crown in MLBB at the IESF World Championships.
The Philippine Esports Organization (PESO) beamed with confidence at Team SIBOL’s roster for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang at the upcoming 2025 IESF World Championships later this year after they recently wrapped up the national qualifiers.
Having revealed the roster last week, and presenting them during the last day of the regular season of MPL Philippines Season 15, SIBOL General Manager spoke highly about the results of the qualifier, which he believes is one of the best they’ve had so far.
“The purpose of the combine is getting to a point where we get all the peak athletes that want to represent the Philippines. I would say that this is the most stacked roster that we have for a combine,” Escutin told reporters at Green Sun Makati on Sunday.
“So that’s why we are very excited to represent the Philippines, and you know, show what the Filipino esports athlete is made of.”
[READ: Kelra, Sanford boost FlapTzy, Team Falcons in SIBOL MLBB for IESF World Esports Championship]
The roster was primarily made of Team Falcons’ combine-winning team, led by veterans Angelo Kyle “Pheww” Arcangel, and David Charles “FlapTzy” Canon. But SIBOL MLBB head coach Robert “Trebor” Sanchez added even more fire power courtesy of Team Liquid’s Sanford “Sanford” Vinuya and ONIC Philippines’ Grant “Kelra” Pillas.
Though it was a good problem to have, Escutin said that it was a difficult job for Coach Trebor to make sure that they had the right people. But as far as he’s concerned, there wasn’t a losing option to whatever SIBOL could come up with during the highly competitive combine.
“Siguro, the only thing which is good for the combine this time, which is also the hardest thing this time, is making sure we select the right people because they are all the best in the roles that they have. So we wanted to make sure that Coach Treb had all of the support and all the resources to make the right decision.” said Escutin.
“I think, whatever kind of roster, or at least in our perspective, whatever roster we could’ve cooked up for that day, we would probably win any kind of tournament on that day. Even if we did a randomized thing,” he continued.
Also on the roster are the rest of Team Falcons’ Marco “Super Marco” Requitiano, Rowgien “Owgwen” and Kyle “KyleTzy” Sayson.
Their sixth man, Vincent “Pando” Unigo will be assistant coach and analyst.
Of note, all Team Falcons players included in Coach Trebor’s roster were winners of the gold medal in the 2023 IESF World Championships.
Despite the overall power of the lineup, Escutin said that if PESO was the one to decide, this team will only be assured of their place in the national team for the IESF. As for the next competitions like the SEA Games, the Asian Games, and all else, they are looking to hold more qualifiers if time would allow.
With a sport as volatile as esports where the most effective strategy changes every so often with game patches and what not, Escutin believes it is the best option to continue looking for the peaking players at each moment.
“The only guaranteed event that they will compete in right now is the IESF. The question is would we hold another qualifier for the SEA Games, the Asian Games, and whatever. So, our goal as SIBOL is to provide opportunities to anyone who wants to represent the Philippines. That’s why we hold the qualifiers,” said Escutin.
“The only hindrance to actually doing the qualifiers is the deadlines of the submission and registration for the event… The intent is to always create a qualifier if a new event will come up, as long as we have enough time for that. Because we want to provide every Filipino who wants to represent the Philippines, the opportunity to do so through the qualifiers,” he added.