Cover-Credits:
After the amazing performance put forth by Nexplay EVOS during the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) Sibol Qualifiers Phase 2 grand finals, the team's amateur standouts - Rainiel “URESHII” Logronio, Marius “DONUT” Tan, Kenneth “CADENZA” Castro are being praised by fans as the next “Big Three.” The three rookies also received praise from Blacklist International during the tournament.
Through a vlog, Setsuna "Dogie" Ignacio interviewed the young prodigies for fans to know more about them and gave details on how they started their esports career and how they feel about receiving the mantle of being the next generation of the Big Three in Nexplay EVOS.
The pandemic paved the way for the rookies’ esports career
The pandemic has definitely changed the Mobile Legends esports scene. To ensure the safety of the participants and staff involved, most tournaments switched from offline to online esports events. This unexpected turn of events gave Nexplay EVOS’ amateur standouts the chance to showcase their talents on the big stage.
CADENZA and URESHII started playing MLBB when the Philippines went under lockdown back in 2020. Meanwhile, DONUT had been playing MLBB for two years and was participating in various local tournaments by joining random small-time esports teams.
CADENZA was an avid player of DOTA All-Star, a Warcraft III custom map back in the day, and Dota 2, while URESHII spent his time playing League of Legends (LoL) PC before he eventually tried Mobile Legends when the pandemic struck. DONUT has played both Dota 2 and LoL PC before transitioning to Mobile Legends.
With that said, the trio is definitely not new to the concept of Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) which may have contributed to their success in playing Mobile Legends competitively.
A new Big Three for Nexplay EVOS
What makes Nexplay EVOS so iconic is the team’s Big Three - John Paul “H2wo” Salonga, Renejay “RENEJAY” Barcarse, and Tristan “Yawi” Cabrera. These pro players seemed to be inseparable and quite formidable on the battlefield when playing together.
After Yawi left the team and transferred to ECHO, fans began to wonder who would rise as the next Big Three in Nexplay EVOS. The question may have been answered during the MLBB Sibol Qualifiers Phase 2 where the team’s newly recruited amateur players - URESHII, DONUT, and CADENZA astounded the fans through their impressive playstyle and mastery of heroes.
The trio managed to push Nexplay EVOS to the grand finals despite having been sent to the lower brackets by Blacklist International. While the team eventually lost their chance to represent the Philippines in the upcoming 31st Southeast Asia Games, the amateur standouts managed to win the hearts of many fans.
Through a vlog, Dogie questioned the three rookies on their thoughts of being the next Big Three for Nexplay EVOS. According to the rookies, it was quite shocking how fans immediately thought of them as the next Big Three as they believe there is still room for improvement.
“They can say what they want to say but we still have a lot to improve,” stated URESHII.
While fans are now familiar with CADENZA, URESHII, and DONUT, they have yet to see the potential of the other two rookies - Emanuel "Elpizo" Candelaria and Michael "MP THE KING" Endino. Dogie said that he would be interviewing them at a later date.
Dogie ended his vlog by announcing that fans will be seeing the rookies more often through livestreams in the near future. Needless to say, we may be seeing more action from the new Big Three of Nexplay EVOS in the upcoming MPL PH Season 9.
