Upsetting MPL PH Run Motivated Team SIBOL to Secure 2023 SEA Games MLBB Gold Medal
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VIRESA
The 32nd Southeast Asia (SEA) Games Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) Men’s tournament concluded with team SIBOL, the Philippines representative, securing a Gold Medal. The squad, composed of Bren Esports talents, was able to score a convincing 3-0 clean sweep victory against the Silver medalist, Malaysia. Prior to its journey in the 2023 SEA Games MLBB Men’s event, fans were skeptical of Team SIBOL’s capability to compete and bag a Gold Medal. This was due to Bren Esports’ upsetting early exit in the Mobile Legends Professional League Philippines (MPL PH) Season 11 playoffs. Through a post-match press conference, the squad shared how these criticisms and negative comments fueled them to prove the critics wrong.
How Bren Esports’ MPL PH Season 11 run motivated it to do better in 32nd SEA Games
Bren Esports’ resurgence was one of the most interesting moments in the MPL PH Season 11. The squad not only managed secure the top seed in the regular season, the squad was also chosen to represent the Philippines in the 2023 SEA Games.
Despite gaining solid momentum in the regular season, the squad fell short in the MPL PH Season 11 playoffs after loosing against Blacklist International in the upper bracket and was eventually eliminated from the competition by ECHO in the lower bracket.
This made fans skeptical about the team’s performance in the upcoming SEA Games for the Gold Medal. Looking back at Bren Esports’ run in the playoffs, the team’s jungler Kyle "KyleTzy" Sayson revealed how his motivation dipped after the upsetting result.
“After the [MPL PH Season 11] playoffs, I was so down. It’s like, my confidence was so low and I told Coach [Duckey] about how bad my play was,” explained the star jungler.
He also reflected on the team’s early exit in the playoffs despite securing the top seed.
“Our run in the playoffs, it was freaky. I think we were the only ones from the top seed who got dropped to fourth place,” KyleTzy explained.
Despite the negative comments that the team received after it failed to impress fans in the playoffs, Bren Esports did not falter.
“So, we saw a lot of bad comments so what we did is we used it as motivation so out mental health won’t get affected and so we can focus more on the SEA Games,” said KyleTzy.
VIRESA
2023 SEA Games MLBB Gold Medal, the confidence booster for Bren Esports
The hard work and the lessons the squad learned from its upsetting performance in the MPL PH Season 11 paid off as Team Sibol was able to win the Gold Medal. This momentous achievement gave Bren Esports the confidence to try harder next season, as relayed by the team’s captain Angelo Kyle "Pheww" Arcangel.
“For me, I’m very happy because the lessons we learned during the playoffs, we were able to apply here. For example, the respect ban on what we should ban, we didn’t do that back in the playoffs,” he explained.
The team captain further elaborated that the team’s performance next MPL season shall be more consistent.
“After the SEA Games, our confidence for the next season is much higher. We will be able to show our whole gameplay and not constantly shift playstyles like what we did in the playoffs,” said Pheww.
The 2023 SEA Games concluded with the Philippines taking home the Gold Medal while Malaysia bagged the Silver Medal. Myanmar and Cambodia shall be heading home with a Bronze Medal.
