Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, or MLBB, remains one of the most popular Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (or MOBA), primarily in Southeast Asia, especially in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Cambodia, extending to other continents and countries worldwide.

So, to determine the best teams and players in the region, Moonton, Mobile Legend’s developer, introduced the Mobile Legends M Championships in 2019, three years after the mobile game was first released. This allows various teams from different countries to battle it on a world stage in front of lively crowds to earn recognition and a hefty prize.

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What is the Mobile Legends M Championships?

The Mobile Legends M World Championships, or M-Series or simply M, is the biggest and grandest annual professional tournament of Mobile Legends for its pro players to determine the best ML Team in the world. This tournament has been administered by its developer, Moonton, since 2019 and is already in its fifth year.

Teams from different countries will first need to compete against each other to determine who will represent their country for the limited slots to enter the competition’s group stage. This event is also packed with large prizes in dollar amounts, easily converting to millions of pesos for Filipinos and other Southeast Asian teams.

What are the qualifications for the M World Championships?

The number of competing teams in the M World Championships is usually 16 for an easier grouping of four teams for the Group Stage. However, the only exemption was during the M2, as there have been only 12 teams, primarily due to the COVID-19 Pandemic restrictions.

For each M Tournament edition, teams must first qualify for their country’s respective Mobile Legends Professional Leagues, also known as MPL, like MPL Philippines and MPL Indonesia. These professional leagues will send one or two (winner and runner-up) teams as their country representatives. 

However, not all teams will immediately enter the tournament proper as some will have to qualify first for the championship through a series of wildcard matches to fill in the remaining slots.

Countries included in the M World Championships

The M World Championships have become more represented through the years by the various ML professional leagues in different tournaments in each continent. However, you will notice that the biggest ML leagues are in Southeast Asia, like the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Cambodia. 

The various Mobile Legends Professional Leagues that will represent their countries in the M Championships are:

  • MPL Philippines
  • MPL Indonesia
  • MPL Malaysia
  • MPL Singapore
  • MPL Cambodia
  • M Challenge (Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Brunei)
  • NACT (North America)
  • LIGA LATAM (Latin America)
  • MCB (Bangladesh and Nepal)
  • MPL MENA Fall (Middle East and Africa)
  • MTC Turkey
  • MLBB Continental Championship (CIS, Georgia, and Ukraine)

MLBB format of the M World Championships

There are some minor changes for each edition of the M World Championships. However, the primary format remained the same: a Group Stage followed by the Playoffs or Knockout Stage. 

Group Stage

During the M5 Group Stage, the 16 qualified ML teams (including two wildcards) are split into groups of four that will play in a single round-robin, best-of-3 series. The top 2 teams of each group will go to the Knockout Stage, while the bottom 2 ML teams will be eliminated from the tournament.

This format is a change from what used to be an upper and lower bracket playoff during the past M World Championship editions, where the top 2 teams will be placed in the upper bracket, while the bottom 2 teams will be in the bottom bracket.

Note: During M2, which happened at the height of the pandemic, there were only 12 qualifying teams. So, each group only had three teams for the single round-robin matches.

Knockout Stage

The eight teams that qualified after the group stage will play in a best-of-5 double-elimination tournament until the two Grand Final Teams emerge. The last two teams standing will play a best-of-7 competition to determine the M World Champion.

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Mobile Legends M World Championships Rewards and Prize Pools

Since the M World Championships is the premier Mobile Legends competition, it is only natural to have a lot of sponsorship that increases the prize pool. Besides the Team Rewards, an MVP Prize is given to the tournament’s best player.

Each tournament also ensures that every competing team will get a portion of the prize pool. However, the difference between the champion and the 16th place is too great, so it’s natural to see each team contend to win everything. Here are the breakdowns of the previous winnings in each placement.

PlaceM1 ($250,000)M2 ($300,000)M3 ($800,000)M4 ($800,000)M5 ($900,000)
1st$80,000$140,000$300,000$300,000
2nd$40,000$67,200$120,000$120,000
3rd$20,000$28,000$80,000$80,000
4th$12,000$16,800$55,000$55,000
5th to 6th $8,000$8,400$40,000$40,000
7th to 8th $6,000$5,600$30,000$30,000
9th to 12th $4,000$4,250$15,000$15,000
13th to 16th $3,000$10,000$10,000
MVP$3,000$3,000$10,000$10,000

ML M World Championships winners

Here is a list of the previous editions of the M World Championships, their location, prize pools, and the winners and runners-up.

TournamentLocationPrizeWinnerRunner-Up
M1 World ChampionshipKuala Lumpur, Malaysia$250,000EVOS – IndonesiaRex Regum Qeon (RRQ) – Indonesia
M2 World ChampionshipSingapore$300,000Bren – Philippines(Burmese Ghouls) BG – Myanmar 
M3 World ChampionshipSingapore$800,000Blacklist International – PhilippinesONIC – Philippines
M4 World ChampionshipJakarta, Indonesia$800,000ECHO – PhilippinesBlacklist International – Philippines
M5 World ChampionshipKuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Manila, Philippines$900,000

M1 World Championship

The inaugural M World Championships in 2019 was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where 16 of the best Mobile Legends Professional Teams battled it out in front of a live audience in attendance. The Finals became a clash between two Indonesian teams, EVOS Legends and RRQ Hoshi, where EVOS went home with the win.

M2 World Championship

The second M World Championship in Singapore happened during the pandemic, so certain modifications were necessary compared to the previous year’s setup. The Finals was between the Philippines’ Bren Sports and Myanmar’s Burmese Ghouls, where the Filipinos got the win and the championship.

M3 World Championship

The M3 World Championship saw a significant boost from its prize pool from $300,000, jumping to a massive $800,000 reward, where the Philippines reigned supreme as two Filipino teams battled it out in the Finals. Blacklist International defeats ONIC PH.

M4 World Championship

The 4th edition of the annual M Championship in Indonesia was also between two Filipino teams, where ECHO swept the defending champion Blacklist International, 4-0, to win the big chunk of the prize pool. In another first for the tournament, Karl “KarlTzy” Nepomuceno won his second M World Championship after he secured his first win with Bren Esports in M2. 

M5 World Championship

This tournament is still to be determined. It’s scheduled to happen this coming December 2023. We’ll update this post once the tournament is over.

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