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 collates 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.^[1] 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 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.^[2]

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.^[3] However, similarly to M3, the M7 World Championships will be held in 2026 to avoid scheduling conflicts with the 2025 SEA Games.

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.^[4][5] 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.^[6][7][8]

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.^[9]

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

Season 15 was the fifteenth iteration of MPL Philippines and the seventh season since the league transitioned to the franchise-base system. Season 15 featured eight franchise teams that have competed during MPL Philippines Season 14.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.^[10] 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.

• Tristan "Yawi" Cabrera returns to MPL Philippines. He previously played for Team Liquid Indonesia before returning to MPL Philippines under TNC Pro Team.^[11]
• 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.^[12]
• 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.^[13]
• 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.^[14]
• 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.^[15][16]
• 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.^[17]
• Francis "Duckey" Glindro left AP Bren during the roster's complete exodus for Team Falcons.^[18][19] Since then, Glindro has been a notable free agent as a head coach. However, on May 15, 2025, Team Falcons announced that Glindro will become the Southeast Asian (SEA) Head Coach.^[20] This is in part of the country's preparation for the 2025 IESF World Championship.^[21]

• 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.^[22]
• 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.^[23]
• 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.

• 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.^[24]
• 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. However, this stint would be short-lived as Santos joined 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 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.^[25]
• Nowee "Ryota" Macasa has been demoted to the MDL team of Smart Omega, Omega Neos. Macasa was the team's starting Exp Laner. Later, Macasa transferred to MPL Indonesia as ONIC Esports' starting Exp Laner.^[26]
• 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 is now the current Gold Laner for TNC Pro Team.^[27]

• Blacklist International and RSG Philippines have officially left MPL Philippines and are not competing in Season 15. Their spots were taken over by Saudi Arabian-teams Team Falcons and Twisted Minds.^[28][29][30]

MPL Philippines follows a double-round robin tournament format where each team face each other twice during the 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.

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)
• 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)
• Jhondy "Nibor" Ranque (Free agent as of February 12, 2025)
• Brian "Panda" Im Chang-rok (Free agent as of February 12, 2025)

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.

MPL Philippines would halt the season from the period of April 13th to April 20th in observance to the Holy Week. Moreover, the league halted its matches to make way for the ESL Snapdragon Mobile Masters 2025 for teams who qualified for both the play-ins and playoffs.^[31]

After a three-week break, the Season 15 playoffs began to determine the Philippines' two representatives for MSC 2025.

Defending champions ONIC Philippines are matched up against Twisted Minds PH who barely made the playoffs with a 3–11 record. ONIC Philippines came in as the overwhelming favorites for the series. After a 2–0 lead over Twisted Minds, the underdogs tied up the series for the first of four-consecutive game-five series in the playoffs which ultimately went to ONIC Philippines. ONIC eliminated Twisted Minds and advanced to the next round against Aurora Gaming.

For the second matchup, it's M5 world champions roster now under Team Falcons PH against TNC Pro Team who qualified for the playoffs for the first time since their franchise-best 9–5 record during MPL Philippines Season 9. In another best-of-five series against the former world championship roster Team Falcons, Team Falcons held the advantage at a 2–1 series but with a rally in Game 4, its series became the second-consecutive five-game series. Team Falcons however would win Game 5 over TNC Pro Team which qualified them for the playoffs, the first time in a while that the Top 4 were included in the playoff picture.

Defending champions ONIC Philippines would face off the super team Aurora Gaming in a rematch from the Grand Finals. In another close-series of trading games left and right, ONIC PH would prevail and hold a 3–0 head-to-head record in the playoffs. In Season 14, they lost in two series—including the Grand Finals—to then Fnatic ONIC Philippines and this becomes their third series loss against ONIC Philippines in a series in the playoffs. ONIC would make it to the Upper Bracket Finals in a 50-50 chance to qualify for MSC.

Top seed Team Liquid PH saw themselves in an 0–2 hole over Team Falcons. However, Team Liquid would prevail in three-straight matches over Team Falcons, play after play that sent the Falcons down to the lower-bracket semifinals against Aurora and in a potential elimination match for them.

Team Liquid Philippines and ONIC Philippines qualified for the Upper Bracket Finals and was the first time that a first seed would matchup with the three-seed in the upper-bracket in a long while. The only three-seed who prevailed in the upper-bracket finals against another team were ONIC during Season 5, Execration in Season 7, and Blacklist International in a back-to-back campaign in Seasons 11 and 12.

After both teams' loss early in the upper-bracket semifinals, former M6 representatives and grand finalists Aurora Gaming matched up against former MSC 2024 representatives and M5 champions Team Falcons in the lower bracket semifinals. As reflected by the upper bracket finals, Team Falcons PH, with their extensive playoff experience and veteran leadership of its players, swept the second-seed Aurora Gaming 3–0 to face Team Liquid PH in the lower-bracket finals and in another chance to qualify for MSC.

The two former MSC 2024 representatives were battling each other in the lower bracket finals in a best-of-seven series. This is the second-consecutive season where the lower bracket finals is a best of seven. Team Liquid PH orchestrated a 2-0 lead early in the series which was then countered by Falcons after a Game 3 dominant win. However, TLPH would still win Game 4 to get match point until a Game 5 win over the squad that pushed the series to six games. In Game 6, Falcons would be eliminated as TLPH qualified for MSC and their fifth finals appearance.

Team Liquid PH and ONIC Philippines were the grand finalists for MPL Philippines Season 15, a rematch of the upper-bracket finals where ONIC swept Team Liquid that qualified them for MSC 2025. The best of seven series saw an immediate back-and-forth of game wins from both sides but ultimately, Team Liquid PH won in seven games over ONIC Philippines, denying ONIC a chance to repeat as champions.

Legend:   - Match MVP

  - Debut Pick for the Hero in the Regular Season/Playoffs

Coinciding with the professional league, MDL Philippines is occurring the same time frame. MDL Philippines' fifth season includes all eight franchise MDL teams alongside four qualifying local teams.

For Season 5, MDL Philippines has invited one team and has openly qualified seven other amateur teams from across the country, making the total number of participating teams for this season at 12, the largest pool of teams in MDL Philippines thus far.

Each team will be put into four different groups. Based of their seeds on their group finish, they will be put in another group for a seeding match for the play-in bracket. Only four teams will qualify for the playoffs for Season 5.

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.^[32] Both amateur and professional teams from MPL Philippines competed in these tournaments.

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.^[33]

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.

The Challenge Finals was the third phase of the Snapdragon Pro Series held on February 2025. One team from six different regions were invited by ESL to compete with the six qualifying teams from the Challenge Season. The Philippines had 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 qualifed 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.^[34]

The Snapdragon Mobile Masters 2025 was an international tournament held by ESL Snapdragon Pro Series. It was the last iteration of that year's ESL Snapdragon Pro Series competition and is similar to that of the Master's Tours Championship. ONIC Philippines qualified for the Mobile Masters as the champions of the Challenge Finals. In the group stage, ONIC Philippines had an equal-best record with Indonesian team RRQ Hoshi but RRQ edged them out by just one game. ONIC had a 5-0; 10-1 standing while RRQ had a perfect 5-0; 10-0 record.

Both teams would meet in the Grand Finals and ONIC Philippines won the series in 5 games.^[35]

The second iteration of the women's division for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang in the 2025 Esports World Cup will be held again coinciding with MSC 2025—the men's division. Teams from the Philippines qualified through the Athena League which served as the first official female tournament for MLBB for the female division and the qualifying tournament for Philippine teams to EWC.

In the Athena League, defending MWI champions Omega Empress—the women's division for Smart Omega—was acquired by Natus Vincere midway through the Athena League.^[36] This comes after NAVI's own entry to both MLBB in Indonesia^[37] and Malaysia.^[38] NAVI PH will be defending their championship title in MWI 2025 alongside the female division of Team Liquid PH.

In every split, MPL Philippines announces awards for players across the league such as all star teams and the individual awards such as Regular Season MVP and Finals MVP.

Similarly to Season 14, 2 All-Star Teams will be awarded to ten different players from the five different lanes in-game while one All-Fan Vote team would also be announced. For the second-consecutive season, one team dominated the fan's all-star team.

Fans online—specifically on Facebook communities—have called out MPL Philippines for their "cheap" looking medals that were given to the champions Team Liquid PH. Previous iterations of these medals were hard metal-like medals that were evident during MPL PH Season 7 and MPL PH Season 8. However, during the Season 15 awarding ceremony for the champions, the medals were reportedly made out of acrylic or some type of plastic which caused dismay among fans and players alike. Players including Johnmar "OhMyV33Nus" Villaluna and Setsuna "AkoSiDogie" Ignacio publicly expressed dismay with fans calling out MPL Philippines for cheeping out on the medal.^[39]

On July 2, 2025, Renejay Barcase, Tristan Cabrera, John Paul Salonga, and earlier Setsuna Ignacio—collectively known as the original members of the Nexplay EVOS Big Three and one of the most-influential streamers in the Philippines—has collectively departed its teams, organizations, and sponsors related to Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. Barcase, Cabrera, and Salonga in particular left their teams: Aurora Gaming, TNC Pro Team and Smart Omega, respectively. A day later, it was announced that the four of them alongside Oscar "Sumpak" Romero was joining Honor of Kings, the direct competitor of MLBB in the mobile scene. This is so far, the largest departure of star talents, players, and personalities from one game, following the lead of original casters Manjean Faldas, Shin Boo Ponferrada, Edgar "ChooxTV" Dumali and Mara Aquino.^{[40][41][42][43]}

Since 2024, many former personalities and content creators of MLBB have switched to Honor of Kings citing different reasons on why they've decided to transfer.

• 2024 MPL Philippines season
• MPL Indonesia
• Mid-Season Cup 2024
• Team Falcons
• Mid-Season Cup 2025