# 2025 MPL Philippines season

The 2025 MPL Philippines season is the eight year of professional and the third year of amateur gameplay in the Philippines for the multiplayer online battle arena game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. This year will collate two season splits for both MPL Philippines and MDL Philippines.
The year began with the inaugural Magic Chess Go Go World Championships where new teams competed for a new world title. The Magic Chess world championships was announced during the announcement portion of the MLBB M6 World Championship in Malaysia. Following the world championship is MPL Philippines Season 15 and MDL Philippines Season 5, the two regional competitions for the professional and amateur scenes of the Philippines. Eight teams are competing for a chance to qualify for second iteration of the Esports World Cup in Riyadh where presumably, the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Mid Season Cup or MSC 2025 will be held coinciding with it. The Philippines has yet to win MSC since 2022 when RSG Philippines won the country's last title.
With the conclusion of MSC 2025, the second split—MPL Philippines Season 16 and MDL Philippines Season 6—will be held. With further announcements to be made during the offseason, MPL Philippines will feature the same eight teams to compete for two slot in the upcoming MLBB M7 World Championship. The multinational tournament will be held in different regions across the globe with the Grand Finale being held in Indonesia. The tournament will return to the Southeast Asian giant for the first time since M4. However, similarly to M3, the M7 World Championships will be held in 2026 to avoid scheduling conflicts with the 2025 SEA Games.

## Background

The Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League of the Philippines (MPL Philippines) is a professional esports league managed by Moonton Games. MPL Philippines was established with sister-leagues MPL Indonesia and MPL Malaysia (formerly known as MPL MYSG) to accommodate the growing population of esports players for the sports discipline. Since its establishment nine different teams have won the MPL Philippines championship title from Aether Main to most-recently ONIC Philippines. Currently, Blacklist International holds the most number of championship titles by any organization in the Philippines with 3, winning Season 7, Season 8, and Season 10.
Since Season 8, the league has transitioned to a franchise-based system, thereby effectively removing the qualifier portion of MPL Philippines. Their transition to a franchise-based league was with their fellow-sister league MPL Indonesia.

## Venue
### Season 15

MPL Philippines Season 15 will be held at the Green Sun Hotel in Makati, the same venue for the MPL Philippines Season 14 Regular and Playoffs season. MDL Philippines will remain an online event with the Finals likely being played offline.

## Split 1
### MPL Philippines Season 15

Season 15 is the ongoing, fifteenth iteration of MPL Philippines and the seventh season since the league transitioned to the franchise-base system. Season 15 will feature the same eight teams that have competed during MPL Philippines Season 14 with all likely partnerships continuing. Teams like Team Falcons and Fnatic partnered with the local teams of MPL Philippines in light of the 2024 Esports World Cup while Team Liquid made its entry during the midpoint of MPL Philippines Season 13 after acquiring Aura Esports, the organization that held teams in MPL Indonesia and the Philippines. The most-recent entry for any team was Dota 2 organization Aurora Gaming who acquired the slot of Minana EVOS during the offseason of Season 14.
Season 15 is well-known for the departures of the two original franchises for MPL Philippines: Blacklist International and RSG Philippines. Both of their slots have been bought out by Saudi Arabian-organizations Team Falcons and Twisted Minds.

#### Offseason
##### Notable Returns

* Tristan "Yawi" Cabrera returns to MPL Philippines. He previously played for Team Liquid Indonesia before returning to MPL Philippines under TNC Pro Team.
* Sanford "Sanford" Vinuya has resigned with Team Liquid Philippines on a contract extension. Vinuya was rumored to join ONIC Indonesia until the team's manager Mitch Liwanag rebuked all rumors and said that Vinuya has agreed to a contract extension with the squad.
* Rodel "Ar Sy" Cruz signs with Team Liquid Philippines as their new coach. Ar Sy previously served as the Head Coach for Falcon Esports in Myanmar. He will be the team's new head coach as former head coach Tictac transitions to a managerial post.
* James "Jeymz" Gloria is returns Philippines to become the starting Exp-Laner for Twisted Minds. Gloria previously was a substitute Exp-Laner for Nexplay EVOS and TLPH Academy before transferring to Team Liquid Indonesia.
* Frediemar "3MarTzy" Serafico returns to the Philippines and joins TNC Pro Team as their starting Exp-Laner. Serafico previously played for TNC Pro Team during Season 8 and was the Exp-Laner of ECHO Philippines (now Team Liquid PH) for Season 9 and 10. He transferred to Pendekar Esports in Indonesia and had a brief stint with See You Soon.
* Stephen "Sensui" Castillo returns to the Philippines and joins Twisted Minds as their substitute Jungler. Castillo played a brief stint in MPL Malaysia under RED Esports. Before that he was the starting jungler for ONIC Philippines and Blacklist International.

##### Transfers

* Justine "Zaida" Palma has transferred from Team Liquid Philippines to TNC Pro Team. Palma had been the sixth man for TLPH as a substitute Jungler.
* Kiel Calvin "Oheb" Soriano has transferred from Blacklist International to Team Liquid Philippines. Soriano will be filling in the spot of Frederic "Bennyqt" Gonzales. Soriano had been the starting Gold Laner for Blacklist until the team's disbandment in early 2025.
* Louis "Louis" Ariola has been promoted to the MPL roster for Smart Omega and will be the team's starting Exp-Laner. Ariola will be filling the shoes of former Exp-Laner Nowee "Ryota" Macasa.
* Jaylord "Hate" Gonzales has transferred from TNC Pro Team to ONIC Philippines as their substitute sixth man. Gonzales had been the substitute mid-laner for TNC Pro Team during Season 14. He returns to ONIC Philippines after previously playing for the team back from Season 7 to 9.
* Several members of the former Blacklist International squad have transferred to Twisted Minds including Jhonville "Outplayed" Villar, Imam "Hadji" Salic, and Michael "MP the King" Endino.
* Former Blacklist International Roamer John "Perkz" Sumawan has transferred to Team Liquid Academy, the development roster of Team Liquid PH. Sumawan spent one season with Blacklist International with the team placing fourth during their last season in MPL PH S14.

##### Notable International Transfers and Departures

* Dylan "Light" Catipon left RSG Philippines for Bigetron Alpha and joining former teammate Eman "Emann" Sangco in the region. Catipon played for TNC Pro Team and Z4 Esports before transferring to RSG Philippines. He won 1 MPL Philippines title and 1 MSC title with the squad.
* Jomearie "Escalera" Santos transferred to HomeBois MY after a brief season stint with TNC Pro Team. Santos was announced to be the stand-in player for HomeBois for ESL Snapdragon Pro Series Season 6 and will outright join the roster for MPL Malaysia Season 15. However, this stint would be short-lived as many rumored Santos to join the Philippine squad Twisted Minds.
* Ben "Benthings" Maglaque has left Aurora Gaming after spending one season with the team. He is currently a free agent.
* Team Falcons has bought out the entire roster of AP Bren and will be their main five for Season 15. Team Falcons and AP Bren formerly partnered together to be "Falcons AP Bren" and won the M5 World Championship title under the name.
* Longtime franchise head coach Francis "Duckyyy" Glindro has left AP Bren after five years with the team. Glindro led the organization to two MLBB world championship titles and two MPL titles in Season 6 and Season 12. He is currently a free agent.
* Nowee "Ryota" Macasa has been demoted to the MDL team of Smart Omega, Omega Neos. Macasa will be the team's starting Exp Laner.
* During the offseason, Frederic "Bennyqt" Gonzales left Team Liquid Philippines after spending eight seasons with the team. Formerly known as ECHO Philippines, he appeared in three MPL Philippine finals in Season 10, Season 11, and Season 13 winning both 11 and 13. He was also the Finals MVP for the M4 World championship run. Gonzales will be joining the TNC Pro Team academy roster TNC x Volts PH.

##### Other Events

* Blacklist International and RSG Philippines have officially left MPL Philippines and will not be competing in Season 15. Their spots were taken over by Saudi Arabian-teams Team Falcons and Twisted Minds.
* Malaysian organization RED Esports has unveiled that they have bought out several key players from the RSG franchise for the upcoming MPL Malaysia tournament. The organization has yet to reveal the player.

### Regular Season
#### Rosters

| Team/Lane | AP Bren | Aurora Gaming | ONIC Philippines | Omega Esports | Team Falcons | Team Liquid Philippines | Twisted Minds | TNC Pro Team |
| Manager | Adi | Rada | TBD | Rianne | Ren Vitug | Tictac | Lexie | Scholar |
| Head Coach | Bom | Master the Basics | YnoT | SN4P | Trebor | Ar Sy | Bon Chan | Imbadeejay |
| Assistant Coach | Pakbet | Dex Star | Haze | Lembot | TBD | TBD | ESON | Xemy |
| Exp Lane | Der | Edward | Kirk | Louis | FlapTzy | Sanford | Jeymz | Lord JM |
| Jungle | Jamespangks | Demonkite | K1NGKONG | Andoryuuu | KyleTzy | KarlTzy | MP the King | Zaida |
| Mid Lane | Chovyskrt | Yue | Super Frince | Ukir | Pheww | Sanji | Hadji | LanceCy |
| Gold Lane | Shizou | Domengkite | Kelra | Yoshinu | Super Marco | Oheb | Outplayed | Kouzen |
| Roamer | Kekedot | Renejay | Brusko | Ch4knu | Owgwen | Jaypee | Escalera | Yawi |
| Sixth Man | Sindel | Calad | Hate | Jowm | Pando | YukTzy | Sensui / Jamal | Koyl / 3MarTzy |
MPL Philippines follows a double-round robin tournament format where each team will face each other twice during the single regular season. Each team will play 14 Best of three matches for the entirety of the first split. The top six teams will advance to the playoffs.

#### Notable Free Agents

The following players have been listed as free agents after leaving a certain team last season and has not signed with a new club for this season in any league.
* Ben "Benthings" Maglaque (Free agent as of February 12, 2025)
* Francis "Duckyyy" Glindro (Free agent as of February 12, 2025)
* Brian "SpiderMilez" Santos (Free agent as of February 12, 2025)
* Carlito "Ribo" Ribo Jr. (Free agent as of February 12, 2025)
* Arvie "Aqua" Antonio (Free agent as of February 12, 2025)
* John Darry "Irrad" Abarquez (Free agent as of February 12, 2025)
* Clarense Jay "Kusey" Camilo (Free agent asS of February 12, 2025)
* Jhondy "Nibor" Ranque (Free agent as of February 12, 2025)
* Brian "Panda" Im Chang-rok (Free agent as of February 12, 2025)
* Ken Louie "Kzen" Pile (Free agent as of February 12, 2025)
* Shemaiah "SDZyz" Daniel Chu (Free agent as of February 12, 2025)

## Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Team Liquid PH | 4 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 1 | +7 | 4 |
| 2 | Aurora Gaming | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 2 | +4 | 3 |
| 3 | Team Falcons PH | 4 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 3 |
| 4 | TNC Pro Team | 4 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 3 |
| 5 | ONIC Philippines | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | AP.Bren | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 6 | −5 | 0 |
| 7 | Omega Esports | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 6 | −5 | 0 |
| 8 | Twisted Minds PH | 4 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 8 | −7 | 0 |
| Team | RORA | APBR | FCON | ONIC | OMG | TWIS | TLPH | TNC |
| Aurora Gaming | — | 1–0 2-1; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 1–0 2-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 1–0 2-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 |
| AP.Bren | 0–1 1-2; 0-0 | — | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–1 0-2; 0-0 | 0–1 0-2; 0-0 |
| Team Falcons PH | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | — | 1–0 2-1; 0-0 | 1–0 2-0; 0-0 | 1–0 2-0; 0-0 | 1–0 2-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 |
| ONIC Philippines | 0–1 1-2; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–1 1-2; 0-0 | — | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 1–0 2-0; 0-0 |
| Omega Esports | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–1 0-2; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | — | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–1 1-2; 0-0 | 0–1 0-2; 0-0 |
| Twisted Minds PH | 0–1 0-2; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–1 0-2; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | — | 0–1 0-2; 0-0 | 0–1 1-2; 0-0 |
| Team Liquid Philippines | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 1–0 2-0; 0-0 | 1–0 2-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 1–0 2-1; 0-0 | 1–0 2-0; 0-0 | — | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 |
| TNC Pro Team | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 1–0 2-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–1 0-2; 0-0 | 1–0 2-0; 0-0 | 1–0 2-1; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | — |
TNC Pro Team's win over AP Bren during Week 1 was the team's first win since MPL Philippines Season 13. TNC went 0-14 in the previous season which prolonged to 0-15 when they lost their opening match to the defending champions ONIC Philippines.

### MDL Philippines Season 5

Coinciding with the professional league, MDL Philippines will also occur during the same time frame. MDL Philippines' fifth season will likely include all eight franchise MDL teams alongside four qualifying local teams. These local teams would be equally distributed to two invited teams and two local teams, similar to the format that was followed last season.

#### Regular Season

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Aurora Hunters | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | AP Bren | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Twisted Rising | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | ONIC Arsenals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Omega Neos | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Team Falcons PH | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Team Liquid Philippines Academy | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | TNC Pro Team | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Team | RORA | APBR | TBD | ONIC | OMG | RSG | TLPH | TNC |
| Aurora Gaming | — | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 |
| AP Bren | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | — | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 |
| Team Falcons | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | — | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 |
| ONIC Philippines | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | — | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 |
| Omega Neos | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | — | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 |
| Twisted Rising | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | — | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 |
| Team Liquid Philippines | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | — | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 |
| TNC Pro Team | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | 0–0 0-0; 0-0 | — |

## Other Events
### ESL Snapdragon Pro Series

The ESL Snapdragon Pro Series for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang began during the offseason of MPL Philippines Seasons 15 and 16. The tournament is on its sixth season split into three different tournament levels: The Open Finals, the Challenge Season, and the Challenge Finals with the finale being the ESL Snapdragon Pro Series Masters, in Jakarta. Both amateur and professional teams from MPL Philippines competed in these tournaments.

#### Season 6: Open Finals

In the Open Finals, three professional squads competed for a slot in the challenge season: Aurora Gaming, Omega Esports (stylized as Smart Omega), and ONIC Philippines, and four amateur squads: Gamerpact Ascend, Gamerpact Chiefs, Lazy Esports, and RRQ Kaito. The seven representatives played a Best-of-3 swiss-stage tournament with the top four teams qualifying for the challenge season. Indonesia's Alter Ego and the Philippines' Aurora Gaming both went unscathed in the swiss stage, going on a perfect 4–0 record while ONIC Philippines had a 5-1 record, dropping only one series to Indonesia's RRQ Hoshi who subsequently qualified as the eight seed. Among the seven representatives, three of them qualified for the Challenge Season.

#### Season 6: Challenge Season

The Challenge season featured the eight qualifying teams from the Open Final and eight invited teams from the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. All teams were split into four groups with the top two advancing to the Challenge Finals. Among the four Philippine representatives, two teams qualified for the Challenge Finals in ONIC Philippines—who went undefeated in their group—and Aurora Gaming—who only lost two games in their Best of 3 matches.

#### Season 6: Challenge Finals

The Challenge Finals will be a future event happening on February. One team from six different regions were invited by ESL to compete with the six qualifying teams from the Challenge Season. The Philippines has three representatives in the Challenge Finals in ONIC Philippines, Aurora Gaming, and the debutant Team Falcons PH. Among the Philippines' representatives, Team Falcons PH and ONIC Philippines are qualifying for the ESL Snapdragon Masters with FCON placing fourth and ONIC Philippines in the deciding Grand Finals match against sister team ONIC Esports. ONIC Philippines swept their sister team ONIC Esports to claim the Challenge Finals trophy and a shot at Masters in the middle of the split.