MANILA, Philippines – AP Bren continued its championship world tour after defeating ONIC Esports, 3-1, in the Games of the Future Mobile Legends Bang Bang (MLBB) event in Kazan, Russia.
The Filipino squad easily moved through the playoffs, defeating Malaysia's HomeBois and Indonesia's RRQ — whose head coach is former AP Bren analyst, Vrendon "Vren" Pesebre — to secure the first slot in the grand finals.
On the other side of the bracket, another Philippine team, Blacklist International, was stunned by Tukey rivals Fire Flux Esports, preventing an all-Filipino finale. But the Turkey dark horses fell to tournament favorite ONIC Esports, which set up an M5 World Championship rematch with their rivals for the crown.
In the grand finals, AP Bren took an early 2-0 lead in the series similar to their historic win on Philippine soil last December. The Indonesian champions managed to stop the sweep by taking Game 3, but AP Bren learned from their previous outing against the Indonesian squad, controlling the entirety of Game 4.
A key pickoff by goldlaner Marco “Super Marco” Requitiano against his counterpart Albert "Alberttt" Iskandar saw the final nail in the coffin as AP Bren marched toward the base of their opponent to add to the growing list of titles.
This latest title is the team's sixth consecutive under a winning streak that started during the 32nd Southeast Asian Games, as the same team and coaches won the Philippines' its third gold in MLBB.
The team then booked the Asian qualifier for the World Esports Championship (WEC) in Saudi Arabia, the main MLBB event of WEC in Iasi, Romania, before heading home to the Philippines to win the Mobile Legends Bang Professional League (MPL) Philippines Season 12. The squad also made history by being the first team to win a world championship in MLBB in front of a home crowd by surviving ONIC Esports, 4-3, in the M5 World Championship.
AP Bren will hope to defend its MPL Philippine crown in the upcoming 13th season of the league starting on March 15.