M3 World Championship representatives Blacklist International and Onic Philippines lead four MPL teams that got direct invites to the second phase of the Sibol national team qualifiers.
Also vying for the lone spot for the upcoming Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam are MPL Season 8 third and fourth placers Omega Esports and Nexplay Evos.
Bannering Blacklist is the dynamic duo of Jonmar “OhmyV33nus” Villaluna and Danerie “Wise” Del Rosario and MPL Season 8 MVP Salic “Hadji” Imam. Amateur standouts Lee Howard “OWL” Gonzales and Kyle Dominic “Dominic” Soto will be filling the void left by Blacklists’ champion sidelaners Edward “Edward” Dapadap and Kiel “Oheb” Soriano who will miss the qualifiers due to the age restrictions.
Multi-titled coach Kristoffer “Bon Chan” Ricaplaza will still be at the helm for the squad together with deputies Aniel “Master the Basics” Jiandami and Dexter “Dextstar” Alaba.
Onic, on the other hand, is only missing star jungler Kairi “Kairi” Rayosdelsol but will be replaced by Ralph “Flick” Hamoy. Joining him is the stacked M3 roster of Onic with captain Allen “Baloyskie” Baloy, Gerald “Dlarskie” Trinchera, Ian “Beemo” Sergio, Jaylord “Hatred” Gonzales, Marky “Markyyy” Capacio and Season 8 reserve Nowee “Ryota” Macasaya.
Omega meanwhile is fielding its Season 9 roster that featured the trio of Execration’s MSC winning team in Joshua “Chaknu” Mangilog, Renz “Renzio” Cadua, and Patrick “E2MAX” Caidic.
Also joining the crew are veteran Billy “Z4pnu” Alfonso and reserve jungler Christian “Raizen" Sumagui and their S9 additions Jhonville “OUTPLAYED” Villar and former Origen Esports midlaner/support Jefferson “Amethyst” Santos.
The new-look Nexplay Evos will also get its baptism of fire in the qualifiers with SEA Games MLBB gold medalist Jeniel “Haze” Bata-anon leading the charge. Season 8 holdovers John Paul “H2wo” Salonga and Renejay “RENEJAY” Barcase and Johnwin “Hesa” Vergara.
Completing the team were new additions Michael “MP the King” Endino, Kennenth “Cadenza” Castro, Mariusz “Donut” Tan and will be under the tutelage of Coach John Michael “Zico” Dizon.
The four MPL squads will be joining four other teams which will be determined through the Phase 1 open qualifier set to start on Friday, Jan 21 up until Sunday, Jan. 23