TODAK may have had a tough group stage at M3, but they managed to make it out in the upper bracket – even giving RRQ Hoshi some concerns.
headline photo courtesy of MLBB Esports
M3 would be Todak’s third time at the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang event, meaning that they have yet to miss one so far. With that said, the team were conquered by RRQ Hoshi at M1 in the lower bracket finals, while M2 saw them finishing in a dismal fifth/sixth place. However, the Malaysians are now looking to take another step forward as they showed us that even the best-of-the-best can bleed in both the group stages and in the playoffs.
We start the Todak M3 journey in Group B, where they faced a daunting combination of Onic Esports and Onic PH, as well as the added danger of Keyd Stars of Brazil. Although losing to the Philippines representatives, Todak were relentless in taking down the kings of Indonesia, while securing a victory over Keyd too. This result placed the Malaysian runners up into the upper bracket, where one of the tournament favourites awaited them – RRQ Hoshi.
RRQ are definitely not a team to be scoffed at by any means, with Alberttt being the only player to secure a SAVAGE so far at M3, while also securing himself a total of 39 kills during the team’s three-game group stage destruction. Thus, Todak would have to be ready for this – and it seemed as though they definitely were, to a degree. While most teams would look to ban away Alberttt from his signature Ling pick, Todak welcomed the challenge, fighting into it perfectly when it came down to it.
Although ultimately losing the series, there were some magnificent moments from Todak, as they proved to the entirety of the M3 World Championship community that RRQ could bleed. Game one and two definitely saw RRQ take complete control, punishing their opponents, even when not having Ling on their side.
But it was game three that we definitely want to take a closer look at, as Cikugais picked up the Miya – and they let the “AngeLing” combination through for RRQ. But Alberttt's performance was nowhere close to anything we had seen from him previously.
When asked about the Miya pick, Ciku had some rather interesting words,
We just felt like it is a good pick to win the lane. I personally like the hero a lot."
While the Todak Analyst, Hazim, showed us exactly why their team managed to make an impact,
We were just focusing on our strengths rather than trying to counter pick and be passive about our choices.”
Both these comments tell a great story about what could be the best way to take down RRQ Hoshi, and maybe something that other teams will delve deeper into as the M3 World Championships continue. With bans focused on more important heroes, TDK gave themselves a massive boost.
As mentioned before, Todak did end up falling to a 3-1 loss, as both R7 and Clayyy backed up Alberttt whenever things were not going as well as expected. But, even so, RRQ Hoshi Coach Acil was definitely ready to show the utmost respect to their challengers after the game saying,
Playing against Todak is always very interesting, as they are very unorthodox and very good players individually. Regardless, we ought to respect all our opponents, and we are confident that we can go all the way this year.”
Now in the lower bracket, Todak are hoping to make a valiant run and avoid the downfall of other promising teams such as Onic Esports and RSG SG. However, as they left the extremely strong Roger unbanned in their series against SeeYouSoon, it was clear that TDK take the challenge of teams picking their comforts, or strongest heroes, against them - and wanting to take them down. They will certainly have to do this again as their next challenger is Natus Vincere, who seem set to cause more upsets in the lower bracket.
