On Friday, February 17, the Mobile Legends Professional League in Indonesia begins its eleventh season, as the eight teams go in search of the championship.
While Indonesia has fallen prey to the power of the Philippines in recent times, the region remains one of the powerhouses of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang – with some of the strongest teams and players around. From RRQ and ONIC Esports, to Rebellion Zion, ID’s MLBB is constantly changing and evolving the game and now the eight teams in the region’s MPL will clash once again, as we go in search of the champion of Season 11.
The Kings bow to none
Although RRQ were unable to contest for the M4 World Championship title earlier this year, having been knocked out in the lower bracket final, the team still put on the performance we expect from the King of Kings. Unfortunately, following their third-place disappointment, team captain Rivaldi “R7” Fatah decided to take a break, which left an opening on the roster. The team have since brought in Deven “RENBO” Markos, an ex-Bigetron Alpha member, which could bolster the roster even more. With the likes of Albert “Alberttt” Neilsen Iskandar, possibly the best jungle player, as well as Schevenko “Skylar” David Tendean in the gold lane, RRQ is always one of the strongest teams in ID.
The reigning champions
ONIC Esports have been in a constant battle for first place with RRQ, as both teams have traded the title for the last few MPL ID seasons. However, this season has seen the ex-RRQ analyst, Adi “Acil” Syofian Asyauri joining the yellow porcupines as head coach, which could see them stay one step ahead of RRQ once again. The movements of ONIC during the off-season period have only seen members within the organisation moving around to fit in their new coach, which bodes well for the team as they will now only need to get used to any meta changes.
Aura on fire
For the past two seasons, the closest challenger to both ONIC and RRQ has been AURA Fire, who we have all enjoyed watching as they rose up. Much like ONIC, Aura go into Season 11 without any team changes, which means we will get to see more Leonardo “Kabuki” Prasetyo Agung and Usep “Facehugger” Satiawan brilliance when the Regular Season kicks off. Aura will be hoping to finally climb above their challengers, but they will have to work very hard to get past everyone in ID also wanting to reach the top.
The rest of the pack
No team in MPL ID Season 11 should be counted out, but some will definitely have a tougher time taking on the likes of RRQ than others – but upsets can always occur when it comes to MLBB. Alter Ego may have fallen away a bit recently, but the team have a few players capable of making amazing plays and carrying their team forward, such as Eldin “Celiboy” Rahadian Putra and Rafly “Pai” Alvareza Sudrajat. Another team that has a chance to make a comeback is Bigetron Alpha, as they continue to utilise a PH-import in the form of Mark “Markyyyy” Christian Capacio – as well as the addition of two new players to their roster. The Robots enjoyed a rather strong Season 10, but would want to get back into the top three, at least, come Season 11.
For Geek Slate, the team’s biggest change was their rebranding, and the addition of Matthew “Matt” Geraldo from Bigetron. The team struggled through Season 10, but showed some real promise at times, even beating the likes of Alter Ego, Aura, and EVOS Legends. With that in mind, EVOS and Rebellion Zion will be around to give some teams a hard time too, with the White Tigers looking to solidify after an extremely poor Season 10.
With only one day left until the MPL ID Season 11 event kicks off, we are looking forward to seeing a plethora of brilliant MLBB action from every team involved. The first weekend of play will be extremely telling for the teams, as they hope to get a firm footing early on – but everything can change with eight weeks of Regular Season in store.
