Pinoy Gaming Network Where Pinoy Gamers Unite! 
TL;DR: Sibol’s first Asian Games MLBB run ended in the quarterfinals with a 2-1 loss to Indonesia on September 30. Myanmar went on to win the historic gold. A week later the loss still stings, but there are real lessons in it.
It’s been a week, and honestly, masakit pa rin.
When Mobile Legends: Bang Bang was confirmed as a medal event at the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, many Pinoy fans already had the gold penciled in. Why wouldn’t they? The Philippines came in with four straight SEA Games golds, and Aurora PH had just won the M7 World Championship. On paper, Sibol was the team to beat.
Then Indonesia happened.
A perfect start
The early signs were good. Sibol topped Group C on September 29 with two clean 2-0 wins over Jordan and Kazakhstan. The roster, built mainly around Team Liquid PH, looked sharp and confident. The prize for winning the group was a quarterfinal against Indonesia, the same rival we’ve faced in finals for years.
Game 1: Indonesia targets the mid lane
Indonesia drew first blood through Affan Wahyudi’s Hirara. Sibol answered by taking the first Turtle and a slim 9-8 kill lead at around the six-and-a-half-minute mark. The real problem was the mid lane. Indonesia’s Cecilion-Carmilla duo of Dalvin Putra and Alexander Buhe kept collapsing on Alston “Sanji” Pabico’s Eudora, who died three times early.
Indonesia took the first Lord at the 10-minute mark, and the pressure kept building. The third Lord broke the game open: Indonesia wiped four Sibol players, leaving only KarlTzy’s Nolan between them and the base. KarlTzy finished with 10 kills, but Indonesia closed it out 22-18.
Game 2: classic Sibol bounce-back
Game 2 started badly too. Sibol fell behind 0-3 in kills within the first two minutes, and Indonesia led by 2,000 gold. Then KarlTzy took the first Turtle at three minutes and started a 3-0 run that put Sibol back ahead in gold by the five-minute mark.
From there it was all Sibol: two turrets, the third Turtle, and the first Lord. In the final clash, Sanford Vinuya’s Sora set up the fight, Dave “Teddyqt” Viana’s Bruno got a double kill, and KarlTzy’s Suyou finished it. The game ended 14-5 in about 12 minutes. Pabico also bounced back after his rough Game 1, finishing with 13 assists and zero deaths. 1-1. Game on.
Game 3: Indonesia doesn’t blink
In the decider, Indonesia switched to a double-fighter lineup, with Putra’s Aulus and Buhe’s Badang alongside Syauki Sumarno’s Lukas. Wahyudi’s Hirara drew first blood again, took the first two Turtles, and kept invading Sibol’s jungle. Indonesia led by 3,000 gold at six minutes and by 7,000 after a Sumarno double kill.
Sibol held off the second Lord push at 14 minutes but was still 8,000 gold behind and couldn’t secure a single objective all game. Two minutes later Indonesia took the third Lord, Buhe’s Badang started the final fight, and Sumarno’s Lukas scored a double kill to wipe Sibol and end it 12-6. Sumarno went 6-0 for the game. GG.
Myanmar takes the gold
The story doesn’t end there. Indonesia swept Mongolia in the semis, then lost 0-4 to Myanmar in the October 1 final. So the first-ever Asian Games MLBB gold went to Myanmar, a result very few people predicted.
So what went wrong?
There’s no single answer, but there were warning signs. In the June qualifiers in Singapore, Sibol lost a 2-1 series to Cambodia, one of the biggest upsets of that event. The team still topped its group, but the loss showed that the rest of the region is catching up quickly.
Indonesia’s drafts also told a story. They targeted our mid lane in Game 1, then simply outfought us with fighters in Game 3.
National-team tournaments are also a different game from MPL or the M-Series. Prep windows are short, the series are best-of-three, and one bad Lord fight can end your run. Indonesia has hurt us in this format before; it swept Sibol in the IESF 2022 final, for example. Our depth of talent is unmatched, but depth matters less when you only get one shot.
Not a total wipeout
The MLBB exit closed out the Philippines’ esports campaign at these Games, but Sibol didn’t go home empty-handed. The Honor of Kings and Pokémon UNITE squads both brought home bronze, so the national program still made the podium in Nagoya.
What’s next
The good news is that Sibol has another chance soon. MLBB was the first confirmed title for the inaugural Esports Nations Cup in Riyadh, another nation-versus-nation stage where the Philippines can respond. There’s also the SEA Games five-peat to protect.
For now, let’s give the boys their flowers for the effort. Losing in the quarters hurts more when you’re the favorite, but that’s the cost of being the standard everyone else is chasing. Bawi tayo next time, Sibol.
Sources:
