The Road to the M5 Title: Update and Predictions

We have our Mobile Legends: Bang Bang M5 Championship Top 6 teams!!

The lower bracket quarter finals and upper bracket finals are a few days away, so let me catch you up to speed with what has been going on in the M5 Knockout Stage. I would say that it has been a pretty competitive knockout stage and there are a lot of moving pieces to keep note of to ensure that you can properly tune in to the games to come.

Without further ado, lets talk M5 Series!

Starting it off with our upper bracket finalists, Onic ID and AP.Bren, representatives of Indonesia and Philippines respectively. Onic ID showed great dominance in their match perfomances, only having issues with Blacklist International. Being the favorites to win it all, the pressure is on for Onic ID to bring the title back to Indonesia. Adding to this, being called Kairi eSports, Onic ID is trying to break away from the identity that they are more than just their PH import. AP.Bren on the other hand, they are the unexpected underdog from the Philippines. With a lot of doubters in the country, they defeated Echo and Blacklist to claim the recent MPL title. AP.Bren has shown great improvement and they are currently looking to be in tiptop shape in the knockout stage.

Moving down to the lower bracket, we have Blacklist versus Geekfam, another PH-Indo matchup, and See You Soon versus Deus Vult, the veteran region against the young bloods of CIS. Though they may be in the lower bracket, we have seen it happen in different eSports titles where the lower bracket team takes it all. The Blacklist lineup may be very different from their previous championship rosters, but make no mistake, these guys are out for blood. Geekfam is no slouch as well, having lost their main jungler due to a suspension, the team had to adjust. As far as I know, Nnael's suspension should be lifted in time for their match against Blacklist, but will the team be ready to readjust? This is due to Markyy, their main gold laner, became their substitute jungler in the knockout stage currently. As for the SYS and Devu match up, it is anyone's game. SYS seem to have woken up and they are looking battle ready after that clean victory against Burmese Ghouls. On the other side of the spectrum, will Devu overcome their 0-3 loss against Onic ID to bounce back and beat SYS?

Keys to Victory:

• For Onic ID

            Onic ID needs to play the macrogame against AP.Bren. They need to prioritize map advantage to ensure Super Marco has no space to farm. AP.Bren excels at team engagements, thus prioritizing heroes that can disrupt team synergy is a must.

• For AP.Bren

            AP.Bren needs to watch out for 3 players, Kairi, Sanz and CW. The tendency of drafters is to ban out all the Kairi heroes, which leaves the other 2 players open to pick their comfort heroes. With all the focus being shifted to Kairi, the other 2 core players get space to farm, which leads to snowballing into late game.

• For Blacklist

            Blacklist needs to play their game. Being a new roster, they have their own strengths and it looks like it is not being capitalized in the drafts. They are using old lineup strats with a new team composition which is not meshing well. Positioning is crucial in this meta and they have a tendency to be in those during crucial objectives and team fights.

• For Geekfam

            Geekfam needs to punish Blacklist for bad positioning. Oheb is a key part of every Blacklist draft and he has the highest tendency to be in the worst position possible in-game. By capitalizing on the mistakes Blacklist makes in their micro, Geekfam can slowly inch their way into a dominant position. May fielding their main roster would help too.

• For SYS

            SYS needs to ride on their 3-0 victory. Being the more veteran of the 2 teams, SYS should utilize their game knowledge to outplay Devu. Carvi has had a great performance despite the team's losses and is a threat on the map. By dealing with Devu's carry, SYS should be guaranteed a victory.

• For Devu

            Devu needs to get it together and bounce back. A team with so much potential, SYS should be worried about what wildcard strats Deus Vult can potentially pull out. With 2 strong side lanes, Kid Bomba and Carvi, Devu should aim to capitalize on winning the laning stage. Work their way towards a late game victory, all the while protecting their core players.

Predictions: 

My Top 3 teams are Onic ID, AP.Bren and Blacklist International.

I can see the upper bracket finals being a 5 game thriller, and it will all boil down to better macro and map management. In tournament performance alone, I can see Onic ID besting AP.Bren, but I cannot discount AP.Bren. Having shown that they are always able to adapt against their opponents, AP.Bren is a force to be reckoned with. In the lower bracket, I see Blacklist International stepping up and learning from their mistakes. Given ample time to touch base, we may see the team's performance peak at the right time.

At the end of the day, M5 is still anyone's game. Hope this article gave you enough information and sped you up to the matches to come. It is possible that the host country curse is real, but with 2 PH teams that odds are stacked against it. Though I wouldn't mind seeing Kairi winning the M5 title.

For more stats, check it here: https://liquipedia.net/mobilelegends/M5_World_Championship/Statistics/Knockout_Stage