| MLBB M3 World Championship | |
| Sport: | |
| Year: | 2021 |
| Location: | Singapore |
| Start Date: | 6 |
| End Date: | 19 December 2021 |
| Administrator: | Moonton |
| Tournament Format: | Double-Elimination Format (Playoffs) |
| Host: |  Singapore |
| Venues: | Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre |
| Participants: | 16 teams |
| Purse: | $800,000 |
| Champions: | Blacklist International |
| Runners-Up1: | ONIC Philippines |
| Runners-Up2: | BloodThirstyKings |
| Matches: | 95 |
| Mvp: | Kiel Calvin "Oheb" Soriano |
| Stat1 Label: | Most Assists |
| Stat1: | Johnmar "OhMyV33nus" Villaluna |
| Stat2 Label: | Top Region |
| Stat2: | Singapore |
| Stat3 Label: | Pro Player |
| Stat3: | Albert "Alberttt" Neilsen (RRQ Hoshi) |
| Previous: | M2 |
| Next: | M4 |
The 2021 Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championship, commonly known as M3 or the M3 World Championship, was the third edition of the Mobile Legends World Championships, an esports tournament for the game . It was held from 6 December until its Grand Finals on 19 December 2021[1] in Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre in Singapore.[2]
M3 is the third series of the Mobile Legends World Championship and is held in the same year as the second series was held in the same nation. M3 features 16 teams with each qualifying for their regional or national qualifiers known as the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League or MPL. These teams were all announced on the same day with their roster on 25 November 2021.[3] M3 features 11 Asian Teams, 1 North American Team, 1 Arabian-Region Team and 3 Latin American Teams.[4]
The COVID-19 pandemic, was a severe challenge for the organizers of the World Championships as the venue in Singapore provided strict health regulations provided by the Government as well as the players travelling from abroad. However, on 8 August 2021, Moonton, the developer of the game announced and confirmed that M3 will be happening by the end of 2021.[5] [6]
Qualifying for the M3 World Championships comes from the competing nation's Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League, commonly known as "MPL". However, regional qualifiers in the CIS Region, North America, Arabia, and Latin American regions were also held to broaden the reach of the Championship's teams.
The defending World Champions in Bren Esports would not be redeemed to repeat back-to-back championship titles due to them having a non-playoff contention in MPL Philippines Season 8 that was ultimately won by Blacklist International in 5 games.
| Philippines | MPL Philippines | MPL Philippines Season 8 Champions | Blacklist International | BLCK | A | |
| MPL Philippines Season 8 Runner-up | ONIC Philippines | ONIC-PH | B | |||
| Indonesia | MPL Indonesia | MPL Indonesia Season 8 Champions | ONIC Esports | ONIC | B | |
| MPL Indonesia Season 8 Runner-up | RRQ Hoshi | RRQ | D | |||
| Malaysia | MPL Malaysia | MPL Malaysia Season 8 Champions | Team SMG | SMG | D | |
| MPL Malaysia Season 8 Runner-up | Todak | TDK | B | |||
| Singapore | MPL Singapore | MPL Singapore Season 2 Champions | EVOS SG | EVOS | C | |
| MPL Singapore Season 2 Runner-up | RSG SG | RSG | D | |||
| Brazil | MPL Brazil | MPL Brazil Season 1 Champions | Red Canids | RED | A | |
| MPL Brazil Season 1 Runner-up | Keyd Stars | VK | B | |||
| Cambodia | MPL Cambodia | MPL Cambodia Season 1 Champions | SeeYouSoon | SYS | C | |
| CIS | Mythic League | MML Season 2 Qualifiers | Natus Vincere | NAVI | C | |
| Middle East | M3 Arabia Major | Arabia Major Qualifiers | GX Squad | GX | D | |
| Turkey | Turkish Qualifiers | Turkish Qualifying Team | Bedel | BDL | A | |
| Latin America | LATAM Championship | LATAM Qualifiers | Malvinas Gaming | MVG | A | |
| North America | North American Qualifier | North American Qualifying Team | BloodThirstyKings | BTK | C |
Player did not play games
| Players | Coach/Manager | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jungle | Exp Lane | Gold Lane | Midlaner | Roamer | ||||||||||
| Blacklist International[7] | Wise(Danerie James Del Rosario) | Edward (Edward Jay Dapadap) | Oheb (Kiel Calvin Soriano) | Dex Star (Dexter Louise Alaba) | Eson (Mark Jayson Gerardo) | OhMyV33Nus (Johnmar Villaluna) | Hadji (Salic A. Imam) | Bon Chan (Kristoffer Ed L. Ricaplaza) | ||||||
| ONIC Philippines[8] | Kairi (Kairi Rayodelsol) | Dlarskie (Gerald Trinchera) | Ryota(Nowee Cabailo) | Hatred (Jaylord Gonzales) | Markyyyy (Mark Christian Etcobanez) | Baloyskie (Aloy Jedric Baloy) | Micophobia (Karl Mico Tarala) | Beemo (Paul Ian Sergio) | Yeb (Paul Denver Lintag Miranda) | |||||
| ONIC Esports[9] | Sanz (Gilang) | Butsss (Muhammad Satrya Sanubari) | CW (Calvin Winata) | Drian (Adriand Larsen Wong) | Maipan (Irvan Yusuf) | Kiboy (Nicky Fernando) | Somber (Chen Po-Heng) | |||||||
| RRQ Hoshi[10] | Alberttt (Albert Neilsen Iskandar) | R7 (Rivaldi Fatah) | Xinnn (Yesaya Omega Armando Wowiling) | Skylar (Schevenko David Tendean) | Vynnn (Calvin) | Clayyy (Deden Muhammad Nurhasan) | Psychooo (Teguh Imam Firdaus) | Liam (William Setiawan) | Acil (Adi Syofian Asyauri) | |||||
| Team SMG [11] | Wynn (Muhammad Fahmi Ikhwan) | Smooth (Aileff Adam) | Myzer (Muhammad Hakim Mikha) | Loong (Saw Kee Loong) | Sasa (Lu Khai Bean) | Zaim Sempoi (Muhammad Zaim) | XpDEA (Mohamad Harith Aiman) | Jamesss (James “Jamesss” Chen) | ||||||
| Todak [12] | CikuGais (Muhammad Danial) | Ajiq (Muhammad Amirul Raziq) | Momo (Idreen Bin Abdul Jamal) | 4Meyz (Wan Usman) | Moon (Zikry Bin Shamsuddin) | Yums (Abd Qayyum) | Moyy (Mohamad Farhan Wakiman) | Ashi (Mohd Syazlan) | ||||||
| EVOS SG [13] | .Potato (Andrew Lim) | Gear (Tristan Christopher Nathanael) | Smokey (Roy Chua) | Adammir (Adam Chong) | Seilah (Basil Lim Dao Ze) | JPL (Akihiro Furusawa) | Young in (Daryl Ng Jun Da) | |||||||
| RSG SG [14] | ly4ly4ly4 (Lim Yang) | Dec | Diablo (Yeo Wee Lun) | Babycakes (Jovan Ong) | Jason (Koh Wei Hao Jason) | Sana (Ming Brandon) | 505 | Lolsie (Bellamy Yeov) | Kayzeepi (Eugene Kong Zhen Pang) | |||||
| Red Canids[15] | Jump Style (Abraão Santos) | Akashi (Nicolas Sanches Vieira) | Upa (Lucas Jose) | Frostt (Matheus Santos) | xManiac (Arthur Martins Nazario) | Lunna (Victor Monteiro) | Darkness (Diego Wellington Costa Casado) | |||||||
| Keyd Stars[16] | Kiing (Lucas Felipe Godoy) | Tekashi (Arthur Nascimento) | Luiizz (Luiz Henrique Alves) | Prime (André Martini) | Mayke (Mayke Santana) | Cabral (Godman Cabral) | ||||||||
| SeeYouSoon[17] | Houx (Lim Kimhouv) | Felix (Leng Kimhak) | Runn (Mon Phearun) | Paragon (Sam Sophanny) | Ember (Sengin Bunchhay) | |||||||||
| Natus Vincere[18] | Sunset Lover (Kemiran Kochkarov) | Defender (Andriy Martynenko) | Lil (Ruslan Degtev) | Nangib (Maxim Dudich) | Sawo (Stanislav Reshinak) | WarBarbie (Alexandr Korystin) | ||||||||
| GX Squad[19] | Amuni | Dar007 | Fuuji | Yato | Dantee | Hisk | ||||||||
| Bedel[20] | Farway | Yunshi | Alien | Paranoid | Farway | Asmo | ||||||||
| Malvinas Gaming[21] | Quinn | Eidrian | Harle | Stephe | ||||||||||
| BloodThirstyKings[22] | MobaZane (Michael Cosgun) | FwydChickn | Victor | Zia | Shark | |||||||||
The Group Draw was held on 6 November 2021, exactly one month before the tournament began, the sixteen teams that qualified for the global tournament were grouped into 4 groups of 4 teams each.
| Blacklist International | ONIC Esports | EVOS SG | RRQ Hoshi | |
| Red Canids | ONIC Philippines | SeeYouSoon | RSG SG | |
| Malvinas Gaming | Todak | BloodThirstyKings | Team SMG | |
| Bedel | Keyd Stars | Natus Vincere | GX Squad |
The Group Stages commenced on 6 December and concluded on 9 December 2021. All games in the group stage were in a format. There were no teams eliminated at the end of group stages, but the upper two teams in each group qualified for the Upper Bracket playoffs, while the lower two qualified for the Lower Bracket Playoffs.[24]
As there was a three-way tie in Group A, Bedel was placed in the Tiebreaker final as they had the fastest time in games won. Thus, Red Canids and Malvinas Gaming played in the Tiebreaker semifinals which loser of that match qualified for the lower bracket.
| Group B Matches | Group C Matches | Group D Matches | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match No. | Team | Results | Team | Match No. | Team | Results | Team | Match No. | Team | Results | Team | Match No. | Team | Results | Team | |||||
| 1 | Blacklist International | 1 | 0 |  Red Canids | 1 | ONIC Esports | 1 | 0 | ONIC Philippines | 1 | EVOS SG | 1 | 0 | SeeYouSoon | 1 | RRQ Hoshi | 1 | 0 | Team SMG | |
| 2 | Malvinas Gaming | 0 | 1 | Bedel | 2 | Todak | 1 | 0 | KEYD Stars | 2 | NATUS Vincere | 0 | 1 | BTK | 2 | GX Squad | 0 | 1 | RSG SG | |
| 3 | Blacklist International | 1 | 0 | Bedel | 3 | ONIC Esports | 0 | 1 | Keyd Stars | 3 | EVOS SG | 1 | 0 | BTK | 3 | Team SMG | 0 | 1 | RSG SG | |
| 4 | Red Canids | 0 | 1 | Malvinas Gaming | 4 | ONIC Philippines | 1 | 0 | TODAK | 4 | SeeYouSoon | 0 | 1 | Natus Vincere | 4 | RRQ Hoshi | 1 | 0 | GX Squad | |
| 5 | Blacklist International | 1 | 0 | Malvinas Gaming | 5 | ONIC Esports | 0 | 1 | Todak | 5 | EVOS SG | 1 | 0 | Natus Vincere | 5 | Team SMG | 1 | 0 | GX Squad | |
| 6 | Red Canids | 1 | 0 | Bedel | 6 | ONIC Philippines | 1 | 0 | KEYD Stars | 6 | SeeYouSoon | 0 | 1 | BloodThirstyKings | 6 | RRQ Hoshi | 1 | 0 | RSG SG | |
The first two rounds of the Lower Bracket are a Best-of-three series, and the rest of the playoffs are a Best-of-five series, except the Grand Final which was a best-of-7 series.
The lower bracket showed an elimination round of teams during the third day of the Playoffs.
| Team | width=5% colspan="2" | Result | width=20% | Team | width=50% | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Team SMG | 0 | 2 | ONIC Esports | ONIC Esports advances; Team SMG eliminated. | |
| 2 | Keyd Stars | 2 | 0 | GX Squad | Keyd Stars advances; GX Squad eliminated. | |
| 3 | Natus Vincere | 2 | 1 | Malvinas Gaming | Natus Vincere advances; Malvinas Gaming eliminated. | |
| 4 | Red Canids | 0 | 2 | SeeYouSoon | SeeYouSoon advances; Red Canids eliminated. |
| Team | width=5% colspan="2" | Result | width=20% | Team | width=50% | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Blacklist International | 2 | 1 | ONIC Esports | Blacklist International advances; ONIC Esports eliminated. | |
| 2 | Bedel | 0 | 2 | KEYD Stars | Keyd Stars advances; Bedel eliminated. | |
| 3 | RSG SG | 0 | 2 | Natus Vincere | Natus Vincere advances; RSG SG eliminated. | |
| 4 | TODAK | 2 | 1 | SeeYouSoon | TODAK advances;SeeYouSoon eliminated. | |
| Team | width=5% colspan="2" | Result | width=20% | Team | width=50% | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Blacklist International | 3 | 0 | Keyd Stars | Blacklist International advances; Keyd Stars eliminated. | |
| 2 | ONIC Philippines | 3 | 0 | RRQ Hoshi | ONIC Philippines advances; RRQ Hoshi goes to the Lower-Bracket. |
| Team | width=5% colspan="2" | Result | width=20% | Team | width=50% | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BloodThirstyKings | 3 | 1 | EVOS | BloodThirstyKings advances; EVOS SG goes to the Lower-Bracket. | |
| 2 | Natus Vincere | 2 | 3 | Todak | Todak advances; Natus Vincere eliminated. |
| Team | width=5% colspan="2" | Result | width=20% | Team | width=50% | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Blacklist International | 3 | 0 | Keyd Stars | Blacklist International advances; Keyd Stars eliminated. | |
| 2 | ONIC Philippines | 3 | 0 | RRQ Hoshi | ONIC Philippines advances; RRQ Hoshi goes to the Lower-Bracket. |
| Team | width=5% colspan="2" | Result | width=20% | Team | width=50% | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Blacklist International | 3 | 0 | RRQ Hoshi | Blacklist International advances; RRQ Hoshi eliminated. | |
| 2 | Todak | 2 | 3 | EVOS | EVOS SG advances; Todak eliminated. |
| Team | width=5% colspan="2" | Result | width=20% | Team | width=50% | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ONIC Philippines | 3 | 0 |  BloodThirstyKings | ONIC Philippines advances to the Grand Finals; BloodthirstyKings goes to the Lower-Bracket. | |
| 2 | EVOS | 0 | 3 | Blacklist International | Blacklist International advances; EVOS SG eliminated. | |
| 3 | BloodThirstyKings | 1 | 3 | Blacklist International | Blacklist International advances to the Grand Finals; BloodThirstyKings eliminated. |
With ONIC Philippines and Blacklist International in the Grand Finals, it would be the second rematch between both teams after both teams were the eventual runner-up and Champions of MPL Philippines Season 8. The Grand Finals was held on 19 December 2021.
| 19 December 202121:04 Match Time | ONIC Philippines 14, | 18, Blacklist International | Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre, Singapore | |
| Most Kills (by its KDA) | ||||
| Hatred, 6/2/2 | Wise, 8/3/5 | |||
| Most Assists (by its KDA) | ||||
| Markyyyy, 3/2/9 | OhMyV33Nus, 0/2/15 | |||
| Game MVP | ||||
| Oheb, 5/5/10 | ||||
| Blacklist International leads, 1-0 | ||||
With an early lead in the early stages of the game, ONIC Philippines was destined to win the matchup after the first turtle take was immediately stolen by Kairi, however, with the amazing defense that Blacklist International brought, they would lead the series 1–0 against ONIC with Marksman Oheb with the Clint as the MVP.
Reference:
| 19 December 202113:40 Match Time | ONIC Philippines 7, | 19, Blacklist International | Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre, Singapore | |
| Most Kills (by its KDA) | ||||
| Markyyyy, 3/4/1 | Oheb, 8/1/8 | |||
| Most Assists (by its KDA) | ||||
| Baloyskie, 0/5/6 | OhMyV33Nus, 1/1/17 | |||
| Game MVP | ||||
| Oheb, 8/1/8 | ||||
| Blacklist International leads, 2-0 | ||||
Reference:
| 19 December 202121:07 Match Time | ONIC Philippines 17, | 20, Blacklist International | Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre, Singapore | |
| Most Kills (by its KDA) | ||||
| Kairi, 5/5/9 | Wise, 8/3/3 | |||
| Most Assists (by its KDA) | ||||
| Kairi, 5/5/9 | OhMyV33Nus, 1/2/13 | |||
| Game MVP | ||||
| Edward, 5/4/7 | ||||
| Blacklist International leads, 3-0 | ||||
8 minutes into the game, ONIC Philippines made an impressive diversion play on the bottom lane after killing three out of five of Blacklist's players. With back-and-forth lead takes by both teams, Blacklist International would inevitably win Game 3 and will be needing only one more game to win the title.
Reference:
| 19 December 202113:48 Match Time | ONIC Philippines 7, | 15, Blacklist International | Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre, Singapore | |
| Most Kills (by its KDA) | ||||
| Baloyskie, 2/6/0Hatred, 2/2/3Markyyyy, 2/4/3 | Oheb, 6/1/3 | |||
| Most Assists (by its KDA) | ||||
| Markyyyy, 2/4/3 | OhMyV33Nus, 0/2/11 | |||
| Game MVP | ||||
| Wise, 6/0/3 (based on Statistics) | ||||
| Blacklist International wins, 4-0 | ||||
With a great damage output by the Natan-core led by Wise, alongside the impressive defense on the outer turrets by Blacklist International, they were able to finish the series in a 4–0 series sweep, the first World Championship sweep by any team in the history of MLBB World. Alongside making history for making the Philippines the first and only so-far, nation to hold back-to-back Championship titles in the M-Series. Alongside named as the "Filipino Sniper" in OHEB being crowned as Finals MVP.
Reference:
Reference:
MVP of the Match
| Blacklist International | ONIC Philippines | Outcome | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hadji | Wise | OhMyV33Nus | Edward | OHEB | Dlarskie | Kairi | Markyyyy | Baloyskie | Hatred | ||
| 1 | Pharsa | Yi-Sun Shin | Rafaela | Uranus | Clint | Esmeralda | Lancelot | Lylia | Mathilda | Beatrix | BLCK leads 1-0 |
| 2 | Barats | Beatrix | Yu Zhong | Yi-Sun Shin | Natan | Paquito | BLCK leads 2-0 | ||||
| 3 | Beatrix | Esmeralda | Natan | Uranus | Pharsa | Lolita | Chou | BLCK leads 3-0 | |||
| 4 | Chou | Natan | Mathilda | Paquito | Beatrix | Barats | Natalia | Rafaela | BLCK wins 4-0 | ||
| Rank | Team | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | US$300,000 | |
| 2 | US$120,000 | |
| 3 | BloodThirstyKings | US$80,000 |
| 4 | EVOS SG | US$55,000 |
| 5 | Todak | US$40,000 |
| 6 | ||
| 7 | US$30,000 | |
| 8 | Keyd Stars | |
| 9 | US$15,000 | |
| 10 | SeeYouSoon | |
| 11 | RSG SG | |
| 12 | Bedel | |
| 13 | Team SMG | US$10,000 |
| 14 | Red Canids | |
| 15 | Malvinas Gaming | |
| 16 | GX Squad |
On 23 December 2021, circulating on Facebook was the hashtag "#WeWantEstes"[27] that was ultimately a protest hashtag by the MLBB Filipino community to Moonton for their cancellation on the creation of the Estes skin, previously picked by Finals MVP Oheb for it was their trademark hero ever since they competed in M3 alongside MPL Philippines. On the same day, Moonton released a statement stating that "We would like to clarify that the M3 Champion Skin has not yet been determined, and development is still underway".[28]
Fans of Blacklist International, who are the champions of M3, were angered and flustered about the cancellation of the Estes skin picked by the team as it was stated by player OhMyV33NUS[29] that the Estes skin would be cancelled after Moonton denied the creation of an Estes skin because it was not "marketable". Moonton has asked him for three different and alternative heroes that can ultimately be Estes' replacements which were Beatrix, Yi Sun-Shin, and Mathilda. All three trademark heroes of Blacklist International.
Ultimately on 24 December, meeting with the creative management of Moonton, alongside Tier One Entertainment's co-founders in Alodia Gosiengfiao and Tryke Gutierrez, Estes would be the official M3 Championship hero that will obtain skin from the team of Blacklist International. The announcement came with the hashtag "#WeChooseEstes".