M4 World Championships: Overall power rankings

With the M4 World Championships quickly approaching, we take a look at our overall power rankings for the event.

It has been over a week since the groups for the M4 World Championships were confirmed, and the teams are getting closer to beginning their push to become the victors. With a total of 16 teams split into four groups, there are some clear favourites – some extremely tough groups, and the chance for some real upsets. The Group Stage begins on January 1st, 2023, with best-of-ones between all teams in each group – but no eliminations until the Knockout Stage, meaning that all teams will be trying to avoid a lower bracket appearance early on.

With all that in mind, we take a look at our overall rankings for the 16 teams going into M4, deciding who the strongest challengers are and a short explanation of why.

The favourites

1) RRQ Hoshi

2) Blacklist International

3) ONIC Esports

Our top three rankings for the M4 World Championships can be fairly obvious, with three of the best teams within Mobile Legends: Bang Bang chosen. The two Indonesian teams, RRQ Hoshi and ONIC Esports, are easily the best in their region – constantly within the top two of their MPL events. With ONIC having brought in Kairi “Kairi” Ygnacio Rayosdelsol from the Philippines, their bolstered strength has been a pleasure to witness, while RRQ are known for making close to no mistakes and will be looking to finally get their hands on the championship title.

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On that note, the next choice is the defending champions, the crown holders, Blacklist International. Having won M3, the team saw the V33Wise duo take a break, which resulted in a subpar performance during MPL PH Season 9. However, the return of the Queen reignited the roster and their Season 10 was unmistakably Blacklist. All three of these teams are at the top of their game, and all three would be on equal footing – but the home ground of Indonesia may play into the hands of RRQ and ONIC.

The challengers

4) Todak

5) ECHO

6) RSG Singapore

The choices for challengers are teams that we believe have the best chance at claiming the title beyond the favourites. These teams are not underdogs, nor are they the definitive favourites at M4, but they can take down nearly any opponent – meaning that the M4 title could swing their way. RSG Singapore have proven themselves within their region on multiple occasions, but this year alone has seen back-to-back MPL victories for the roster. Although they have not had much luck in tournaments with non-SG teams, M4 could turn things around.

^{image courtesy of ML Esports}

For both ECHO and TODAK, the most recent MPL seasons in their respective region were met with a runners-up position – but they are not to be counted out. For the Swordfish, this is a fourth appearance at an M-series event, and they have a lot to prove as they look to put Malaysia on the map with ID and PH as victors. ECHO, on the other hand, is a team which features a player that has already been victorious – with Karltzy having lifted the M2 World Championship alongside Bren Esports. The PH roster has quickly grown into their stardom, and they will be looking to cause some major upsets when they enter the Land of Dawn in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The unexpected

7) The Valley

8) Malvinas Gaming

9) Falcon Esports

10) Team HAQ

11) RRQ Akira

12) Burn x Team Flash

The teams in this category are those that are most likely to cause an upset, those that have played previously at a M-series event, or those that have shown some fantastic qualities lately. The Valley features three players from the shockingly brilliant North American roster of BloodThirsty Kings (BTK), including Michael “MobaZane” Cosgun. Malvinas Gaming, having played at M3, return with an almost entirely new roster, except for Harle, who will be ready to punish his opponents from the middle lane once again. RRQ Akira are another team from the Americas region too look out for, as the Brazilians have certainly shown their class previously. As Keyd Stars at M3, the team took a respectable seventh/eighth place finish and now return under the RRQ banner ready to move up.

^{image courtesy of ML Esports}

Falcon Esports may be a mostly unheard-of Myanmar roster coming through the qualifier, but this team has already produced some amazing results against some of the absolute best. This is the same Falcone which pummelled through RSG SG and TODAK at MSC 2022, taking an epic fourth place – after also being the reason for ONIC’s group stage departure. Victorious in MPL MY S10, Team HAQ feature below TODAK for one reason alone – lack of M-series experience. Although, with that said, with Minn and Mann on this roster, they have a chance to go extremely far. Finally, Burn x Flash, the Cambodians with a bit of a twist. The addition to a PH player to the squad may be something special for this team, as they look to empower themselves against the best. Following in the footsteps of ONIC with Kairi, Burn x will be hoping for Hesa to give them the advantage.

^{image courtesy of ML Esports}

The unknown

13) Incendio Supremacy

14) MDH Esports

15) Occupy Thrones

16) S11 Gaming Argentina

The final four teams are not those which we deem unlikely to claim the M4 World Championship, as we know that anything can happen in MLBB, but rather those which we do not know enough about to make a fair call. These four teams could bring out some of the most interesting strategies, as there is not a whole lot of information on them out there. This could be the cause of some early upsets, especially within the Group Stages, where a best-of-one determines everything. We are not counting out anyway at M4, as this year has been absolutely crazy within MLBB.

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That concludes our overall power rankings for the M4 World Championships. We will look closer into the group rankings in the following days, with more specific information on the teams and best players to guide them forward. Stay tuned to our MLBB tab for all the information on the tournament.