Amateurs soon to shine, veterans taking their well-deserved rests: Here are all the MPL-PH roster changes before Season 9 kicks off
By Arvin Migallos
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| PHOTO: MPL |
The anticipated 9th season of Mobile Legends Professional League - Philippines is nearing, and roster changes were made pre-season. From teams acquiring decorated players, to new names given the opportunity to show off their skills in the pro league, here are the roster reshuffles ahead of MPL-PH Season 9.
The back-to-back defending champions, Blacklist International, will be playing season 9 without the dynamic duo of Johnmar "OhMyV33nus" Villaluna and Danerie James "Wise" Del Rosario after both parties agreed that they will skip the upcoming season.
With this in mind, BLCK will be relying on their rookie Kent Xavier “KEVIER” Lopez and the comeback of Mark Jayson "Eson" Gerardo for a much needed firepower to defend their title.
Onic Philippines, on the other hand, will be the only team in the upcoming season to stick with their Season 8 and M3 roster.
Will they finally be able to prove "it's Onic time" or will the 2nd place curse still continue?
Smart Omega acquired two promising rookies, Jhonville Borres "OUTPLAYED" Villar and Cesar Jefferson "AMETHYST" Santos as substitutes for Robbie “Hito” Candoy and Dian “Dian” Cruz.
They will also stick with their MSC winning roster, which solidifies their grip on title contention.
Nexplay Evos may have lost a part of their "Big 3", Tristan "Yawi" Cabrera, the services of Sanford “SanFord” Vinuya and James “Jeymz” Gloria, but the team prepared a back up plan for a chance to hook their elusive championship.
They picked up Michael “MP The King” Endino, Kennenth “Cadenza” Castro, Mariusz “Donut” Tan, Emanuel “Elpizo” Candelaria, and Renren “Ureshi” Nitsug to fill in the missing gaps, while Setsuna "Akosi Dogie" Ignacio will return to coaching duties.
ECHO may be the most stacked team in the upcoming season as they acquired Yawi, Karl Gabriel "Karltzy" Nepomuceno, Frediemar “3MarTzy” Serafico, along with the return of Ashley Marco Dungo “Killuash” Cruz.
With a plethora of talent and roster flexibility, will ECHO live up to the high expectations?
RSG PH also temporarily loss Joshwell Christian “Iy4knu” Manaog, but will be having Aaron "Light" Catipon and Clarense "Kousei" Guzman, who are both from TNC.
Will the "kingslayers" of the league be able to be consistent and repeat their last season's debut much smoother?
The M2 world champions, Bren Esports, started 2021 with a fiery start. But then, it all went downhill as they finished 5th-6th place in MPL-PH season 7 and got eliminated before the playoffs for the first time in franchise history in the 8th season.
Back to the present: Bren Esports lost star jungler KarlTzy, Ephraim "Ejhay" Sambrano went to be Sunsparks' new coach, and Cj "Ribo" Ribo decided to sit out the season.
Will the addition of Dale Rolan “Stowm” Vidor, Marco “Super Marco” Stephen, Vincent “Pandora” Unigo, Jomari “Jowm” Pingol, Kenneth “Saxa” Fedelin, and Vincent “Joy Boy” De Guzman be enough to bring the team back up the ranks?
And finally, TNC had a very rough season 9 as they finished last and was declared eliminated just 3 days before the regular season ended.
A roster overhaul was the way to go for TNC in the pre-season, featuring their very promising amateurs Jomarie “Escalera” Delos Santos, Robee Bryan “Yasuwo” Pormocille, Salman “KingSalman” Macarambon, and Mark “Kramm” Rusiana.
Will TNC be able to redeem themselves and prove that they can also have a shot at winning an MPL title?
Will the Blacklist Saga continue and achieve three-peat? Or new champions will reign? Catch it on the 9th edition of MPL-PH starting on February 19.