With the regular season concluded and the playoffs are just around the corner, let’s take a look back at how things turned.
It is worth noting that this is the first MPL season with the Emblem system revamp, so there was a lot of limit testing taking place during these games. Given that the regular season is the bulk of MPL PH tournament format, the meta heading into the playoffs will be very similar.
But before we take a deep dive into the meta analysis, here are the standings:
Congratulations to Echo and AP.Bren for securing the 1st and 2nd seeds. It has been a grueling season, especially since the top 2 teams will be heading to m5. GG Well Played to Minana Evos and TNC for putting up a good fight. Bounce back next season!
Now… Let’s talk meta highlights!
- Utility Jungling is not Dead!
An early prediction, with the removal of the Jungle emblem, was that tank junglers will not have a place in the meta. They assumed the lower damage output will affect the utility junglers’ clear times, which affects their timings and rotations. Yet MPL PH teams proved otherwise, because the highly contested junglers were tanks like Fredrinn, Baxia, Akai. Special mentions to Martis, though can be play as an assassin, was still played as a tanky fighter. These tanky heroes provide the teams with a frontline and allows drafts to be more backline heavy. The standard utility jungler gameplay seen in MPL PH was to capitalize their early game gold and level advantage to secure objectives, which then converts to map advantage. Adding to this idea, tank junglers can snowball and gain gold advantage, thus they often have the item and level advantage to provide peel and cover for the team’s damage dealers. Given the meta picks for other roles tend to be squishy, utility junglers still have a place in the game.
- Healers are back!
With buffs in healing efficacy and the new healer focused item, Flask of the Oasis, it is no surprise that healing roamers/supports are back in the meta. The existence of this meta, may be one of the reason why tank junglers are still in play. Because due to the teams' access to survivable junglers, they have the option to run a support, though squishy, can increase the sustain of the whole team. That being said, with healers being as soft as they are, someone else has to take the role of tanky initiator, which may be one of the reasons why tank junglers are still in meta. The common healing roamers picked are Angela, Rafaela, Floryn. Though it may be worth noting, Minotaur, who happens to be the most picked healer in the regular season, is an exemption to this archetype. He is probably favored due to his tankiness and skill set, which allows him to initiate, heal and tank damage.
- Bruiser Exp laner
The Exp lane experienced a shake up in terms of hero picks, because of the changes in emblems and nerfs in the current patch. Prominent picks from last season received several nerfs, thus there was a meta shift in the Exp lane. The new picks that are worth noting are Terizla and Paquito, because they're are now considered meta. The Exp lane hero pool remains to be survival, be it tanky or mobile, bruisers who aim to chip away at their opponents, but the hero priority has changed due to the current patch. The Exp lane is about surviving early game and getting activated as soon as objectives need to be contested. Though roles of the Exp laners may vary per hero picks, majority of the time it is to be a nuisance around the map. This may be done by picking off heroes, split pushing, zone control or messing up the enemy team's positioning, and the classic tank. Basically, the Exp laner is the one to adjust in terms of utility and game objectives.
- Zoner or Utility Mages
It seems as though the gameplay is now leaning towards longer engagements. Even the mage picks are about poking, zoning and utility. Novaria has been a go-to flex pick during the regular season. Whether played as a roamer or played as mid, she provides great utility through vision and crowd control. While Valentina and Lylia play the mid mage role similarly, which is engagement denial. Their skills poke at enemies looking to set up and they zone out the enemy teams looking to contest objectives. The mage picks this season is, much like the other roles, about utility. Yes, they provide late game magic damage that can burst down squishy heroes, but that's not majority of their job. Their main role, in a macro sense, is to ensure that team fights and engagements start in their team's favor. Also worth noting, these mages are hard to kill due to their mobility and skills, thus prioritizing them may not be worth the effort or resources given.
- Burst Marksmen
The marksman meta this season brought back the burst damage dealers. Beatrix and Brody still a constant in the meta due to their wave clear and aoe burst damage. Though with the buffs to their kits, teams began playing Irithel and Bruno as well. Though they may not have the same instant burst damage like Beatrix and Brody, Irithel and Bruno provide sustained burst due to their high damage output and mobility. Adding to these picks, Ixia makes her meta debut. Ixia falls under the same category as Beatrix and Brody, given her skills can wave clear fast and her ultimate can provide high burst damage. Adding to this, she has great sustain in lane due to her innate life steal. The goal of the marksmen in this season was to provide the overall damage of the team. They tend to be the only damage dealers in the team, so providing high burst damage or aoe is a must.
Gameplay
Much like every ML ranked game, what wins game is not kills, but objectives and map control. MPL PH season 12 stays true to this, and at a higher level of competition. We watched lord contests that would last several minutes. We saw how crucial lane management was in games that would extend beyond 20 minutes. Gameplay wise, this season we saw the return of funneling. Though, unlike the past meta with 2 heroes buying roaming items, it is more like putting all the eggs in the carry basket. The team composition is all about building around the carry, ensuring they provide them space to farm. Gameplay is about space generation for the carry and objective based gaming to secure early game advantage.
After noting that most heroes picked for each role tend to be utility heroes, it is no surprise that the game tends to fall on the carry's shoulders. With majority of the games in the regular season going beyond the 15 minute mark, the chosen win condition of the teams this season is about winning late game. Late game is when the team cash in their carry investment, and hope that they deal enough damage to take care of everything. If this isn't the case, and the team's carry does not get enough space, it becomes a game of scaling. With every hero having a cap on their damage output and survivability, super late game is about who makes the first mistake.
This MPL PH season has been very competitive due to the attempt to secure an M5 slot. There were several nail biting series that kept you on the edge of your seat, and some one sided stomps. Teams have become smarter and map movements improved greatly. This could possibly be the most competitive season to date.
To summarize the meta analysis in one word, it would be "Utility". With the gameplay shown by most teams, the ability to maximize the tools they are given is crucial if you want to win the series.
For more stats:
https://liquipedia.net/mobilelegends/MPL/Philippines/Season_12
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