MLBB rebrands Southeast Asia Cup to Mid Season Cup, to be hosted at Esports World Cup in Riyadh in July

Aside from the newly-minted Mobile Legends Mid Season Cup, the Esports World Cup's Mobile Legends competition will also feature the Mobile Legends Women's Invitational.

Kurt Lozano
·Contributing Editor
·3 min read
The Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Southeast Asia Cup has been rebranded into the Mid Season Cup and will be hosted at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in July as part of the Esports World Cup. (Photo: MOONTON Games)
The Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Southeast Asia Cup has been rebranded into the Mid Season Cup and will be hosted at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in July as part of the Esports World Cup. (Photo: MOONTON Games)

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) developer MOONTON Games announced on Tuesday (23 January) that the game will be one of the esports titles to be featured at the Esports World Cup in July in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

As part of this move, the MLBB Southeast Asia Cup (MSC) has been rebranded to the MLBB Mid Season Cup and will be hosted alongside the MLBB Women's Invitational (MWI) during the Esports World Cup. The new MSC will have a prize pool of US$3 million, the largest in MLBB esports history, while the MWI will have a US$500,000 pot.

The new MSC will be hosted from 1 to 14 July during the Esports World Cup's run during the Summer. The schedule for the MWI, on the other hand, has yet to be announced.

This will mark the first time that a major MLBB tournament will be held outside of the game's heartland of Southeast Asia. Prior to its rebranding as the MLBB Mid Season Cup, the MLBB Southeast Asia Cup featured the best MLBB teams from all across Southeast Asia and even featured teams from other regions in its later iterations.

Which countries will feature in the new MSC?

The new MSC will feature 15 teams from 14 international regions and over 35 countries, with the best teams from the MLBB Professional Leagues (MPL) and regional qualifiers earning spots in the tournament.

The Philippines, Indonesia, and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) leagues will be sending two teams each to the MSC, the champion and runners-up of their respective leagues. Meanwhile, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Myanmar, North America, Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA), Turkiye, Latin America, and China will be represented by the champions of their respective leagues and qualifiers.

The 15th slot in the new MSC will also be allocated to the winners of a Wildcard Stage, marking the second time that a Wildcard team will be able to earn a spot in a major MLBB tournament after the M5 World Championship last December.

The MSC Wildcard Stage will include eight teams from Malaysia, the Mekong Region (Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam), China, Mongolia, South Asia, EECA, Turkiye, and Latin America.

Meanwhile, the MWI will feature 12 teams from the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, China, MENA, EECA, the Mekong Region, Brazil, and North America.

"This collaboration marks a new chapter for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Esports and the global esports ecosystem," Ray Ng, Head of Esports Ecosystem at MOONTON Games, said in a press release.

"We are thrilled to partner with the Esports World Cup Foundation and go beyond our horizons to Riyadh. Alongside with teams from new participating regions, this year's iteration presents boundless opportunities for more regions to participate, in line with our vision to expand MSC and MWI to foster greater diversity and inclusiveness."

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