Philippine representatives Blacklist Ultimate will not see action in the Call of Duty Mobile World Championship until the East Finals on Dec. 11, but a bevy of Filipinos are ready to take the spotlight in the West Finals which fires off Sunday.
North American team Tribe Gaming will have Filipino-Canadian player-turned-coach Carl "Image" Butalid and compatriot Kent "Banned" Nerves, who were both vital cog to the team's title run in the Master 2021 North America and the squads’ fifth to sixth place finish in the CODM World Championship 2021 - NA Finals.
Outside America, Filipino CODM stalwarts also shine in Europe.
Geneil "Neil" Rae Dacanay will asee action in the West Finals after helping Nova Esports EU win the title in the CODM 2021 Europe Masters. Filipino-British Lasperhey "Miney" Lorenzo will also be playing for Natus Vincere after the Ukraine-based esports organization acquired the entire roster of Miney’s previous team, Anarchy, which topped the Call of Duty Mobile World Championship 2021 – Europe qualifiers to book a spot in the world stage.
Miney will be opening its CODM Worlds campaign against Image and Banned when Navi and Tribe clash in the second game of the opening day in Group B.
Navi will then face Godsent, NYSL Mayhem, Zygnus Esports and Asylium later in the day. Tribe on the other hand will take on Zygnus next before taking on Godsent, Asylium and NYSLM to round out the group stage.
Meanwhile, Nova EU will debut against Xplicit before it tangles versus Fullhouse Gaming, ARP Gaming, Skade and STMN Esports in Group A.
Top two teams at the end of the group stage will advance to the double-elimination playoffs. Winners of the semifinal matches will advance to the upper bracket finals while losers will be battling for survival in the lower bracket. The top squad at the end of the two-day tourney will take home the lion’s share of the $1 million prize pool.