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| Team Liquid Philippines and Team Falcons Philippines will play in a "more demanding" revised group stage format in the MSC. Richard Esguerra (file photo) |
MANILA—New year, new MLBB Mid Season Cup format.
The MLBB Pro Circuit's mid-year spectacle as part of the Esports World Cup will have another format tweak for its upcoming edition at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles.
As revealed on Friday, the 16 teams that will make it to the group stages will be divided into two groups of eight through a draw.
In each group, the eight clubs will undergo another draw to determine the opening day pairings.
Just like last year, the MSC group stages will be a double-elimination format, in which two wins will qualify a team to the quarterfinals and two losses will knock the team out.
Separate draws will take place among those who will win their opening assignments and those who will lose.
Once the teams that will finish 2-0 and 0-2 have been determined, the teams with 1-1 records will undergo another draw for the matches that will decide the last four entries to the quarterfinals.
All group stage affairs are best-of-three series.
The first two rounds of the playoffs are best-of-five affairs, while the grand finals will be a best-of-seven.
Moonton, the developer of MLBB, announced that the bronze medal match will return this year in Paris featuring the losing semifinalists.
Just like the 2024 edition, the battle for third will be a best-of-five.
Team Liquid Philippines and Team Falcons Philippines, the MPL Philippines Season 17 grand finalists, are both given outright group stage tickets.
On the other hand, the MSC wildcard phase gets crazier with its new format.
The 10 teams will be divided into two groups, and the five squads per group will play in an intra-group single round robin format.
Only one game will be played per pairing.
The two teams with the best records after the group stages will advance directly to the wildcard semis, while the bottom two teams will kiss their MSC hopes goodbye right there.
The other three teams per group will play a stepladder playoff to determine the last wildcard semifinalists.
The first round of the gauntlet will see the third seed of one group taking on the fourth seed of the other group.
The winners will play the second seeds in the next crossover matches, that is, the winner of the A3-B4 series will battle the second seed of Group B and the B3-A4 winner will take on the A2.
The gauntlet survivors will play in the crossover semis, with the winners slugging it out for the last spot in the group stages.
All wildcard playoffs are best-of-three series.
Falcons PH's sister team Team Falcons MENA will undergo the wildcard stages, being grouped with Nightmare Esports, Sunset Ravens, The Huns, and Verso Time in Group B of the preliminary round.
"Our tournament formats must evolve alongside the rising level of competition across the MLBB ecosystem. The road to championship contention is now more demanding, challenging teams to consistently perform under pressure," said Tiger Xu, Moonton's global head for MLBB esports.
The MSC will run for the entire month of July with the medal matches happening on Aug. 1.
