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| Fnatic Onic PH gets an early acid test against Liquid ID in the M6 Swiss stage. MPL Philippines (file photo) |
QUEZON CITY--An early clash of the titans will take place in the M6 World Championship elimination round as the reigning MPL champions of the Philippines and Indonesia will face off right on Day 1.
Following the draw for the preliminary round on Friday, Fnatic Onic Philippines and Team Liquid Indonesia will clash in one of the eight first round meetings.
Expect fireworks in the said clash considering that both Fnatic Onic PH and Liquid ID, formerly known as Liquid Aura, are the domestic league champions of the only two countries that have won an M Series World Championship, the biggest title in Mobile Legends Bang Bang.
The other Filipino team in the field, Aurora, will first take on Burmese giant Falcon Esports.
Selangor, the reigning MLBB Midseason Cup champion, opens its campaign for the historic "golden road", the MLBB equivalent of a calendar year grand slam, against Turkish champ S2G.
The other first round pairing for the M6 eliminations will see China's Keep Best taking on Indonesia's RRQ Hoshi, Europe's Team Spirit against Argentina's Maycam Evolve, Saudi Arabia's Twisted Minds against Malaysia's Team Vamos, and Singapore's NIP Flash battling Cambodia's CFU.
American champ Blood Thirsty Kings will wait for the wildcard phase to finish before they can find out who will be its opponent in the preliminary stages.
In a new twist for this year's edition of the M Series World Championship, the elimination round will now be played through a Swiss format.
Unlike in the previous group stage format where the teams already know who they will take on by the draw, their next opponents will now depend on whether they win or lose.
The teams' campaign in the Swiss stage will end once they either incurred three wins or three losses.
Those with three wins will enter the knockout phase, while the teams with three losses are officially eliminated.
With all the ties being just one-game affairs, teams will play a minimum of three games and a maximum of five in the Swiss format.
The M6 wildcard phase, where eight teams clash for the last remaining spot in the Swiss stage, will take place from Nov. 21-24, while the Swiss stage begins from Nov. 28-Dec. 5
The games will be played either at the IOI Grand Exhibition or Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur.
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