Aside from pulling off the biggest upset against Blacklist International in the M3 World Championship, one reason why the North American squad BloodThirstyKings caught interest from the legion of fans is because of its midlaner named Zia who also happened to be a Filipino player based in Canada.
Seeing how he played for BTK using his signature heroes Yve, Lylia, and Pharsa, Zia immediately piqued the interest of Filipino MLBB fans.
That’s why when he guested in a livestream hosted by MPL shoutcaster Dan “Leo” Cubangay, some curious fans immediately threw in questions regarding the BTK midlaner – among those, and probably the most interesting one, was whether he could play in the MPL Philippines.
“Di ko alam kung makakauwi pa ako e yun ang di ko sure, depende kasi sa offer rin talaga kung worth it bang iwan yung Canada para makapaglaro ng pro dun o hintayin ko na lang yung MPL NA dito,” said Zia who has been in Canada for five years already.
If the stars align and a decision should be made on which team to join, the BTK midlaner said he would choose ECHO.
“Echo kasi idol ko kasi si Karl lakas magjungler eh,” said ZIA who also revealed that he was a former jungler in his previous team, GX NA squad, before joining BTK, just two months before M3.
Despite the lack of preparation time, ZIA still managed to do well on his role, evident to his squad’s third-place finish – something the Fil-Canadian didn’t really expect.
“Para sa akin di ko talaga expected na mag top 3 kami, sila confident silang apat na makakapag top 4 or top 3 sila, ako parang ang layo kasi ng gap eh masyado nang magagaling sila sa Asia,” he explained.
“Pero nung pumunta kami diyan nakasrim namin narealize ko na di naman pala ganun kalayo yung skill gap,” he added.
That top 3 finish of BTK in the world championship raised hopes that Moonton will create their own professional league in North America. Now asked to choose between MPL NA or MPL PH, Zia said he would rather stick with BTK and dominate NA than stress himself out against the tough competition in the MLBB’s No.1 region.
“Dun na po pupunta (MPL NA) kasi malapit po tsaka masyado mataas competition sa PH. Kung lilipat ako dyan, ayoko na mastress dyan, mas gustuhin ko na magdominate kami sa NA,” he said with a hearty laugh.