Rivalries and rematches on show as M3 World Championships groups determined

 

by Drew Malihan

MANILA - The race to the top starts now.

Sibling rivalry once more and new marquee matchups guaranteed as the M3 World Championships group stages were confirmed Saturday Philippine time.

The 16-team tournament features the best Mobile Legends teams from the MPL regions as well as qualifiers from the CIS, Turkey, North America, Middle East, and Latin America.

MPL Philippines champions Blacklist International will see themselves in Group A along with MPL Brazil champions Red Canids, Latin America qualifier champions Malvinas Gaming, and Bedel from the Turkey qualifiers.

It was a brother versus brother rivalry once more as ONIC Esports and ONIC PH will meet in Group D along with MPL Malaysia runners-up Todak and MPL Brazil runners-up Vivo Keyd.

EVOS SG were drafted into Group C along with MPL Cambodia inaugural champs SeeYouSoon, esports powerhouse from the CIS Natus Vincere who acquired the Deus Vult roster, and North American qualifier champions BloodThirstyKings.

Malaysian champions Team SMG and MPL Indonesia runner-up RRQ Hoshi will figure once more in Group D along with Middle East qualified team GX Squad and MPL Singapore runners-up RSG.

The group stages will feature all best-of-one matches from December 6 to 9, with the top two teams from each group going up in the upper bracket while the bottom two will be going to the lower bracket.

All upper bracket matches will play in best-of-five matches while the lower bracket will have two rounds of best-of-three matches and the latter stage in best-of-five format.

The upper bracket and lower bracket champions will battle it out in a best-of-seven series to crown the World Champions and will get USD300,000 of the USD800,000 prize pool.

Fans can also enjoy more M3 as MLBB have launched the M3 Battle Pass available for the said tournament from November 29 to January 2 next year.

All group stages matches will happen from December 7 to 9, the playoffs from December 11 to 18, and the grand finals on December 19.

Follow him on Twitter: @drewmalihan