MobaZane Prefers Playing in Regions Where Mobile Legends Is Well Developed
BloofThirstyKings’ (BTK) team captain, Michael "MobaZane" Cosgun, elaborated on why he is more interested in the Southeast Asian (SEA) region’s Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) esports market over North America (NA), his region of origin. Earlier in January, he announced that he was planning on traveling to Indonesia and experiencing the region’s meta. The pro player had a discussion with EVOS Legends’ coach Bjorn "Zeys" Ong on potentially trying out for the team and joining its roster for the upcoming Mobile Legends Professional League (MPL) Indonesia (ID) Season 9.
Unfortunately, MobaZane won’t be able to travel to Indonesia due to travel restrictions caused by the pandemic.
MobaZane can join EVOS Legends under one condition
Despite EVOS Legends locking its roster for the upcoming MPL ID Season 9, EVOS Legends’ head coach, Zeys, clarified that teams can still add new members. This was revealed through a podcast interview where MobaZane talks about his plans for his esports career and how small the MLBB esports scene is in the NA region.
According to the head coach, MobaZane can join the team but he must first play in the Mobile Legends Development League (MDL) division for at least a week before he can get promoted to the pro league team.
“So, you can join the MDL and just play for one week, and after playing for one week, you can get promoted to the MPL right away,” stated Zeys.
He added that MobaZane can still catch up and join the MPL ID Season 9 if the transition is fast enough. The tournament is scheduled to kick off on 19th Feb. Considering that there are only a few weeks left before the tournament starts, it is less likely that MobaZane will be able to join the team for the MPL ID Season 9.
MobaZane is not satisfied with the MLBB esports scene in NA
With how small the MLBB esports scene is in NA, MobaZane is disappointed with his career as a pro player in the region. He added that it was always his dream of becoming a pro player. “Even before doing YouTube, that’s all I just wanted to do, become a pro player,” stated MobaZane.
Before becoming BTK’s team captain, MobaZane started his career playing Arena of Valor. However, the mobile esports scene in NA is quite small and that made it difficult for him and other mobile esports pro players to compete against other regions. “North America right now is kind of horrible in terms of esports. The only thing is these small tournaments. I don’t necessarily love what they're doing right now,” stated MobaZane.
He added that his teammates in BTK also pose a challenge for him as they rarely play MLBB. While MobaZane remains consistent on his livestreams, he usually plays alone in ranked games.
BTK's Ian “FwydChickn” Hohl and SHARK (aka Oscar) are both students who are trying to balance their time between playing MLBB competitively and studying. MobaZane added that FwydChickn and SHARK may join him when he travels to Indonesia after the two graduate this April. “There might be a few of us coming, me, chickn, SHARK, and maybe Victor. We can all just have fun playing ranked in Indo (Indonesia) and potentially lookout for future teams, I’m not sure,” he said.
On a separate livestream, MobaZane revealed that his travel plans to Indonesia will have to wait due to how difficult it is to get a Visa because of the new COVID variant.
“I don’t know how bad it is in Indonesia right now but it is pretty bad. The USA got a lot of new cases ever since the new year, even Chickn (FwydChickn) got it,” stated MobaZane.
The player added that he will still try and process the necessary documents to travel to Indonesia this February. However, he is still unsure how long it shall take before he can finally secure his trip to the region.