“MLBB’s direction of development is clearly not focused on skill in esports”: an in-depth interview with Disowned

Hi, thanks. Everything was really cool, especially since we played on a team with streamers I already get along with really well. We play a lot of MLBB together, and sometimes we play other games too, so we ended up with a team of friends. That’s why, for me, the tournament was a 10 out of 10.

Obviously, I’m happy with the result, but I didn’t expect the grand final to go the full distance. The problem here is that we were just shooting ourselves in the foot. We could have given up on a lot of things much earlier, but we often prioritized our personal desires, even though we knew this was, after all, a media tournament and that we weren’t a professional team.

There were moments when Nikita “TrexteriNO” played on whatever hero he wanted. At times, I played on a so-called Eidora, which I was really bad at. But toward the end of the series, we realized we needed to pick different heroes—not the ones we personally wanted, but the ones that would help us win.

The tournament turned out to be really awesome, and the only feedback I’d like to give the organizers is that I’d like to see more streamers and more teams. As for the rosters, I’m sure everything was great. Everyone says we had some kind of unbalanced team, but I don’t think that’s true. Everyone had good rosters.

For example, TpaBoMaH is new to our discipline, but because he has few points, he was able to put together a pretty good team—essentially four esports players, though one of them isn’t playing right now. It seems to me they just assigned roles a little incorrectly: They could have given Travoman a role that would allow him to contribute right from the start of the game, and that might have made things easier. For example, a roamer—put him on a tank with “Puddle,” and the mid laner could have built his play around that.

Perhaps it’s worth taking a more comprehensive look at the roster if players like me and Magistor each have 50 points. Of course, I’d give us a higher score, considering that we all had competitive experience. Magistor even made it to the top 4 at the World Championship. We were probably just a little lucky with the scoring.

But overall, I think the teams were put together well in terms of skill. It’s just that in some areas, we could have chosen our roles, heroes, and overall team composition better. GEASS is an incredibly strong team, in my opinion—I actually thought we’d lose in the first match. But somehow we started off on a positive note, and everything worked out.

It’s a double-edged sword, because at first viewers would say, “Look, there are too many pro players,” but then they’d end up complaining about the quality of the gameplay. You can’t please everyone here. I think having pros and streamers on the same team is a great idea.

First and foremost, it engages the audience and encourages them to interact with esports—which is great for esports. It’s also great for streamers, who can create new, unique content. You can’t do this on regular streams, considering that the best pro players are currently competing in the MCC, have World Championship qualifiers, and are constantly training—they have almost no time for something like this.

For my viewers, it was also a 10 out of 10. We really hit it off together… I don’t know how Wizer managed to put the team together, but we’re all in constant contact anyway, and on top of that, we got to play in the tournament. I think it was really cool for our entire audience. 

I don’t think that’s necessary. Why? It feels like it wouldn’t be BETBOOM Streamers Battle anymore. We could organize a separate tournament or a show battle where the goal isn’t to win, but to do more challenges. 

The problem is that lately, the gameplay has been pretty much the same. And that’s probably why many viewers want some variety. But overall, this will 100% worsen the gameplay at the tournament—especially with mixed teams of streamers and pro players. Even for a professional team, these challenges would be a burden, but when the level of play isn’t very high to begin with, it’ll only make things worse.

You can’t please every viewer. If it’s of interest, you could hold a vote or rely on statistics. Otherwise—I can find plenty of people who’ll say it was just an absolutely awesome tournament, especially for a first-time event. And at the same time, there will be plenty of people who are unhappy because their favorite streamer lost, or something else happened, and so on.

Honestly, I was really nervous about this tournament. The mid laner’s role is very important right now; you have to hold the lane well alongside the roamer. That determines how the game unfolds—jungle invasions, objective pushes. And I hadn’t played a proper double-mid match against good players in a very long time, but there were some at this tournament. For example, Fangor and Asuna—two esports players who’ve known each other for a long time. 

So I was really worried that I wouldn’t pull it off, that something would go wrong. Basically, that’s exactly what happened: I was dissatisfied with all my games except for the ones I played as Selena, which went well. But I enjoyed the experience itself. At one point, I even got really into it—I started watching the games and analyzing them to try to improve my play for the team.

As for resuming my career—I’ve already said in an interview that you can’t just jump into esports on enthusiasm alone. I’m old enough now; I have a family and certain responsibilities—I just can’t start spending a ton of time on this. But overall, if there were a really great offer, I’d give it a try.

That’s happened a couple of times—I even got some offers a long time ago, right when I was just finishing up my playing career. But I run my own channel, and it feels more productive. Because if you look at esports in our region as a whole, we don’t have that many coaches or analysts overall. 

It all comes down to which team reaches out. I imagine I could be a good analyst, for example, if I worked with an experienced coach like Ospreay from Team Yandex or Coldstar from Team Spirit. That would have been cool for me: in other disciplines, I’ve seen examples of former pro players becoming analysts, working with coaches and learning from them at the same time—and then moving on to become coaches themselves.

I might have gone down that path if Mobile Legends were more popular here. Because I enjoy watching tournaments: even though I don’t play myself right now, I follow the scene, including leagues from other regions. It’s something I can relate to. 

Yes. And I’d say it’s also more convenient.

Actually, I’ve had experience as a commentator for a very long time—you can find on Liquipedia that I’m an official M3 commentator. But every time they put me on screen during a tournament broadcast, I get incredibly stressed out: I start stuttering, I get nervous, and I can’t put my thoughts into words properly...

I don’t know why this happens. When I stream tournament matches, I don’t have this problem, and when I’m playing, I don’t either. But if I have to work on an official broadcast, I struggle at first and only get into the groove as I go along. For some reason, I’m constantly very nervous, even though I do have some experience, albeit limited.

But I really enjoy working as an analyst: these are exactly the kinds of tasks I’ve always loved doing. Not commenting on everything that happens on the map, but highlighting something interesting. And at MCC, we divided up the responsibilities in a way that worked really well for me: I’d just relay information to the commentator, and he’d call it out. The guys are really supportive, too, so everything’s great. And the team is awesome. All in all, being an analyst is really cool—I loved it. I probably wouldn’t have been able to work as a commentator on a broadcast, though.

Well, I’ve only heard positive feedback. Then again, if I think about my own audience—I’ve probably just been lucky with my viewers. Because every time something happens (a media tournament or when I go to comment on something), I go back to my channel and hear nothing but good things. For my part, I haven’t noticed anything suggesting they felt something was missing. I’ve even seen comments like, “I’m watching the official cast just because of you”—I’ve even seen that.

It’s not that I want to brag—I’m just saying this is a cool idea for the MCC. There’s Wizer, there’s Pluto: people who, based on their experience, can already offer some insights into the game. I think viewers who aren’t used to this should find it interesting.

Every week is full of surprises. A team plays in the first week, and it seems like, “Okay, that’s it—the picture is clear; they’re in the top 7 or top 8.” But the next week, that same team starts winning, while the favorites lose... MCC Season 8 stands out as a tournament with some of the least predictable results. Everyone is giving it their all, and even the teams at the bottom of the standings are surprising us. It feels like this season has brought together eight pro teams that are training hard, analyzing their games, and searching for their own unique style.

Right now, any team can take points from another. There’s always a battle. Maybe it’s more a question of the meta: overall, it seems the level of play in the MCC hasn’t changed. There are always favorites and underdogs, and that’s normal in esports. But in this MLBB meta, anyone can steal maps from anyone else, and it’s interesting to watch.

Yeah, the game has gotten simpler—I agree with Troublemaker. If you look at mid as a separate role, in my opinion, it’s one of the weakest roles in the game right now. When we first started playing, mages dealt a ton of damage: it was a completely different game, and everything played out very differently.

But, then again, I can’t say I don’t like the current state of the game. Now the game is designed so that people interact with each other much more than before. Back then, everything came down to individual skill, and a lot was decided by that—things like 1v1 duels and solo kills. Because there were no modifiers and no speed boosts on water—when we played, there was absolutely nothing like that. 

Now, as I mentioned, what’s very important is how the team interacts in team fights and what decisions players make as a group. In this regard, MLBB has become more demanding in terms of team synergy than individual skill superiority. It’s become easy to avoid duels: you can help a teammate escape if you wait for them to come out in advance, or swap positions with a teammate across the map—it’s easier to run to the other side of the map.

I think MLBB’s development path is clearly not focused on esports skill. The game is trying to become more accessible to the average user, because all the complex heroes and difficult mechanics are being simplified, and long animations are being sped up. The goal is for people to be able to open the game in their free time—for example, after getting home from work—and just jump right in. 

Yes and no. Theoretically, you could be the best individual player in the world but terrible at team play—precisely because of this simplification. I’ll throw out a little hint: I already know more than one player who’s debating whether to play in esports or stream. Because it really is a bit demotivating when you spend so much time training. Sometimes a team is a bit weak, and you want to carry them and win something—but because of the direction the sport is heading, it just doesn’t work out. 

But I don’t think this has a negative impact on esports as a whole. In any case, it boosts online gaming, the audience grows, and that same audience will ultimately interact with esports in some way. More viewers and teams mean more interest from sponsors and partners. Perhaps we’ll be able to attract more funding if there’s a buzz around esports and the game itself. Although, of course, this can be demotivating for individual players.

Thank you. All I can say is that I’m sending my regards to my beloved followers and viewers. Thank you for inviting me to this interview. And thank you to the organizers of the BETBOOM Streamers Battle for coming to us and putting on such a tournament. Personally, I really enjoyed being part of this competitive atmosphere, where everyone wants to win and gives it their all. It was really awesome, so I want to thank everyone who worked on this project. And thanks to everyone who’ll be reading this interview!