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| RRQ Kaito's shock win last year proves PESO executive director Marlon "Lon" Marcelo's claim that the Sibol tryouts are the fairest process for the national team selection. MPL Philippines (file photo) |
MANILA--RRQ Kaito pulled off a major shocker last year when the quintet became Sibol's Mobile Legends Bang Bang team for the IESF World Esports Championship.
RRQ Kaito, then the reigning MDL Philippines champion, stunned no less than M6 world champion AP Bren in the semifinals of the qualifying event before beating Smart Omega in the finals.
RRQ Kaito eventually recruited then AP Bren members Michael "KyleTzy" Sayson and Francis "Duckey" Glindro to complete Sibol version 2.024.
Glindro helped Pau Munsayac coach the national team, while Sayson eventually made the starting unit over Gabriel "Denjiro" Guinto.
However, RRQ Kaito's Sibol stint came to a bitter end as they could not replicate their group stage success against Selangor and lost to them in the grand finals of the IESF worlds.
This led to fans' comments that an MPL Philippines team should have been Sibol instead of RRQ Kaito.
However, a few months after the IESF World Esports Championship, Philippine Esports Organization executive director Marlon "Lon" Marcelo ruled out any changes to the Sibol qualification process, implying that anyone, whether from the MPL or MDL, can still try their luck to become the national team for this year.
"That's the beauty of the Sibol tryouts. We can only say that our Sibol national team selection is really robust and fair because if you don't put your best foot forward, pwede kang masilat," Marcelo told Dugout Philippines.
"I don't see any changes coming in from the selection process because this is the most fair and stringent strategy."
With the Olympic Esports Games already rescheduled for 2027, Sibol only has two tournaments to think about this year, the next IESF world championship and the Southeast Asian Games.
Meanwhile, RRQ Kaito retooled its roster in its bid to reclaim the MDL Philippines title.
The team announced on Tuesday night that it had signed Aldrin "Seiji" Damian and Menard "Memmmee" Caoile to replace Cy Torres and Denniel "XNova" Gomez, who are currently taking a break from action.
Guinto, Carl "Minguin" Gallantes, and Ferdz Fernandez are staying on, while Kelvin Chen has been reactivated after not joining RRQ Kaito in its IESF worlds campaign.
Chen has been named the starting jungler, which means Guinto will be coming off the bench again just like with Sibol.
With Lazy Esports, the erstwhile MDL PH champs, already elevated to MPL PH to become the new AP Bren franchise, RRQ Kaito, the first-ever team tagged as a bonafide pro club by the Games and Amusements Board to complete a perfect season by sweeping the entire MDL PH Season 3 last year, is tagged as the heavy favorite to win Season 5.
Whether Damian and Caoile would also help RRQ Kaito keep the Sibol identity for 2025 remains a question.
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