MobaZane Is Upset That NA Was Not Invited for MPLI 2022

Michael "MobaZane" Cosgun, the jungler for The Valley, shared his frustrations as to why only Southeast Asian (SEA) teams were invited to the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) Invitational (MPLI) 2022 event. The pro player questioned why Indonesia gets to invite all of its franchise teams and the Philippines (PH) gets five slots for the tournament whereas other regions like North America (NA) are ignored. MobaZane has been one of the most vocal personalities in the MLBB esports scene. He frequently shares his thoughts regarding a lot of topics such as more tournaments for NA and his frustrations with the Tank Jungle meta in the game.

MobaZane thinks NA should be invited to the MPLI 2022

Through a livestream, MobaZane shared his disappointment about the MPLI 2022. According to him, out of the 20 invited teams, at least one of them should have been from NA.

“20 teams on MPLI, that’s cool, and NA is not one of them. That’s disgusting, actually,” stated the pro player.

While he understands that it’s because the region still has no official MPL, he still thinks that at least NA should be invited to join the annual event. 

“We really can’t get a single slot for that? That’s kind of messed up,” MobaZane said.

The Valley’s jungler further complained that Indonesia and the Philippines get to have most of the slots for the MPLI 2022 but not a single one is for other teams outside the SEA region.

“So who’s getting those 20 slots? Well, they give PH and Indo five each. Invited just the full MPL roster of MPL for each of those? I don’t get it,” MobaZane stated.

Two of the strongest regions in the MLBB esports scene were given most of the slots for the MPLI 2022. Indonesia was given eight slots while the Philippines got five slots. 

The Valley recently secured its ticket for the M4 World Championship as NA’s representative. While MobaZane understands why there can only be one representative for his region in the upcoming world series event, he expected to be invited to other major tournaments at least.

“For M4, I can understand that It’s just one. We only deserve one but at least in MPLI, maybe?” said MobaZane.

The MPLI has always been an SEA exclusive tournament since its first iteration. With the growth of the MLBB esports scene, it will be interesting to see if it expands its slots to invite teams outside the SEA region.