As the third week of MPL MY Season 12 passes by, some things have definitely changed, with TODAK unable to keep themselves afloat.
With a few technical difficulties on the floor during Week 3 of the Mobile Legends Professional League’s twelfth season in Malaysia, one team has certainly seen a few problems of their own arise. While Team Lunatix definitely came to life after their poor start to the Regular Season, the Swordfish are now on the brink of the elimination zone – not something their fans would be expecting.
Over the past few seasons in Malaysia, 
Todak has been a dominant force, not one that many teams have been able to easily fight against. As defending champions, the team has not changed a whole lot during the off-season, although a few players did move to inactive. So, we delve into what it is that could be holding TODAK back, as they fell into seventh place after Week 3, with a tough Week 4 on the cards for the Malaysian stars.
First and foremost, it must be recognised that TODAK has only played a total of four series so far this season – with their only victory coming over Team Secret in Week 1. With an opening day loss to Team SMG, as well as losses to both RED Esports MY and Red Giants Esports in Week 2 and 3, respectively, it seems as though there is a significant disconnect – or the other teams have upped their game exponentially.
With a quick look back to their three losses, we can see that TODAK has not performed terribly, with at least one game taken in the best-of-three series in each loss. When the team finds their momentum, with their ultra-aggressive playstyle, they control the Land of Dawn extremely well – especially in the early and mid-game periods. However, the team often miss the mark on this, which allows their opponents multiple opportunities to get into the lead.
Another factor to look into is TODAK’s love for X-Borg, a hero who has been picked by them five times, with an 80% win-rate by them alone. Although other teams have been favouring the hero, TODAK seems to be the ones to get the most out of it, as opponents never want to expend valuable resources just to bring it down before a fight breaks out, giving the Swordfish a rather strong buffer to control the map with at times. However, in all their losses, X-Borg has mostly been banned away, or stolen away by their opponents – making the hero a very clear win condition for the team.
Having such an obvious win condition comes at a price, as every team will have insight into this, and decide whether or not they care enough to leave it open, or if they want to remove the chance of it controlling the game. For TODAK, it seems it has become quite a clear choice, and they will need to find something else to fill that role if they want to get back on the winning side of things.
With Week 4 approaching and series against both HomeBois and Team HAQ on the cards, things could get much worse for the defending champions as we enter the second half of the Regular Season. With five series left to play, including this weekend’s, the Swordfish need to find their stride if they don’t want to be reeled in and left to dry.
