The "Kings of Southeast Asian Mobile Legends: Bang Bang" are set to play for a different yet equally stellar organization in the much-awaited MPL Philippines Season 8.
Smart Omega unveiled Billy "Z4pnu" Alfonso and the rest of Execration's Mobile Legends Southeast Asia (MSC) Cup 2021 championship winning roster as its new players for the upcoming MPL-PH season on Monday night, July 12.
Star tank Joshua "Ch4knu" Mangilog, MSC Finals MVP-gold laner Duane "Kelra" Pillas, jungler Kiel VJ "Kielvj" Hernandez, EXP laner Renz "Renzio" Cadua and captain-support Patrick "E2MAX" Caidic will be wearing a different jersey but will be focused on the same goal of extending their reign in the local league.
Completing the 10-man lineup are ex-Execration and ULVL standout Dian "Dian" Cruz and rookies Romeire "Allidap" Padilla, Dean "Raizen" Sumagui, and Robert "Hito" Candoy.
Jomie "P4kbet" Abalos will remain as the head coach while Omega's former mentor Tony "Ynot" Senedrin has been promoted to head of coach and player development.
Last July 2, Omega released the entirety of its previous MPL roster which finished runner-up to Bren Esports in Season 6 and competed in the M2 World Championship.
SMART Sports head Jude Turcuato believes that getting the former Execration roster, which features a mix of veterans and up-and-coming players, is the best possible move for Omega Esports.
"The talent that we have, the popularity and the following that we now have, I think that combination puts us in a very good situation to do very well across the board performance-wise, popularity-wise," said Turcuato.
Z4pnu expressed his gratitude to Smart Omega and vowed to give their all for their newfound organization.
"Para sa amin, start pa lang ito ng aming journey at pinapangako namin na gagawin naming lahat ng makakaya namin,” said Z4pnu.
"Ang message ko naman sa fans, sana suportahan niyo pa rin kami kahit may bago kaming team, sama-sama pa rin kaming lalaban sa mga tournament."
READ: Z4pnu explains Execration's absence in 'franchise-based' MPL-PH Season 8
Through his YouTube vlogs late last month, Z4pnu said that the MSC kings and MPL-PH Season 7 runners-up would be having a new team after Execration failed to secure a slot in Season 8 which is reportedly set to implement a franchise-based model.
The popular PH ML personality added that the busy schedule got in the way of Execration's plan to buy a slot in the coming season.