The 2023 ''Mobile Legends: Bang Bang'' Southeast Asia Cup, commonly referred as MSC 2023, was the sixth edition of the ''Mobile Legends: Bang Bang'' Mid Season Cup, the annual international esports tournament for the mobile game '' Mobile Legends: Bang Bang'' organized by

Moonton Shanghai Moonton Technology Co. Ltd. (), commonly known as Moonton, is a Chinese multinational video game developer and publisher owned by the Nuverse subsidiary of ByteDance and based in Shanghai, China. It is best known for the mobile multiplaye ...

. MSC 2023 oversaw an increase of team representation from different regions of the World including

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

and

MENA The Middle East and North Africa (MENA), also referred to as West Asia and North Africa (WANA) or South West Asia and North Africa (SWANA), is a geographic region which comprises the Middle East (also called West Asia) and North Africa together ...

. The qualification for MSC 2023 happened during the spring-split of the ''Mobile Legends: Bang Bang'' Professional League (MPL) seasons, Moonton approved Regional tournaments and qualifier tournaments before the main tournament. MLBB powerhouses of the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

qualified its champion and first runner-up teams, while the remaining regions qualified the champions of their respective region. However, with the lack of compliance as per the MLBB Rulebook for MSC 2023, North American Champions of NACT 2023 Spring BloodThirstyKings were disqualified from the tournament. In replacement, first runner up team Outplay will be representing the region. The hashtag "#SEATheWorld" was used as the official hashtag during the eight-day tournament. Blacklist International and ONIC would once again face in a grand finals matchup. The most recent matchup in the grand finals for both teams was during MPLI 2021 where ONIC defeated Blacklist in four games. After being withheld of an international title since 2019, Indonesia won its first international title with ONIC winning their second MSC title. They defeated Blacklist International in six games, ending the dominance of the Philippines over the discipline temporarily.

Background

On 14 March 2023,

announced their partnership with the Esports Federation of Cambodia (EFC) to "co-promote the growth of the local esports industry and enhance the competitive gaming landscape of the country." Hence, declaring

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

to be the host for MSC 2023. The announcement of Cambodia's hosting for MSC 2023 was also announced during the MLBB M4 World Championship.

Tournament format

Group stage

The Group Draw results were announced in Social Media via

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

and

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

of Mobile Legends Esports. Among the twelve participating teams, every group will be drawn a designated champion from the regions of the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar, and the remaining teams will be drawn evenly. Each group will undergo a single round-robin tournament with matches being a best-of-three format. The top two teams of each group will advance to a bracket draw for the playoffs and the third-seeded team of each group will be eliminated.

Knockout Stage

Unlike the previous iteration of the tournament, MSC 2023 will have a single-elimination bracket with games, and Knockout Stage matches will be best-of-five formats. Teams that lost in the Semifinals will proceed to the third-place match. The Grand Final is scheduled for 18 June 2023 with a best-of-seven series.

Participating teams

MSC 2023 expanded its regional qualifications, qualifying teams from

, and

in the process.

Group draw results

Group stage

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Playoffs

All matches are a best-of-five series, except for the Grand Final, which is a best-of-seven series.

References

{{MLBBesports Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Mid Season Cup 2023 in esports

Background

Tournament format

Group stage

Knockout Stage

Participating teams

Group draw results

Group stage

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Playoffs

See also

References