The History of the Alter Ego Team in MLBB: The Road to the M7 Finals and the Present

In 2017, a new esports club called Alter Ego was founded in Indonesia. The organization was among the first to field a roster for the new game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang—and a few years later, this team would become the organization’s flagship asset.

Today, we look back at the history of one of the oldest teams in MLBB, tracing Alter Ego’s entire journey from an inexperienced mix team to an M7 finalist and a major multi-gaming organization with rosters in three different leagues.

Alter Ego made its MLBB debut during the MPL Indonesia Season 2 qualifiers in the summer of 2018. Although the team failed to qualify at that time, it had already attracted its first fans—and its first tournament was the Southeast Asia Cyber Arena 2018 LAN event in Jakarta. AE was eliminated in the quarterfinals after losing to Louvre Esports.

At the time, the team consisted of Arasi “Arss” Zamanulail, Ahmed “Maungzy” Abdurrahman, and Julian “Leomurphy” Murphy, as well as two relatively unknown players, Rage and Jo, although this lineup was constantly changing. The first full-fledged roster is considered to be the five-man team that played in the third season of MPL Indonesia—by then, Rage and Jo were no longer part of the team.

In the MPL’s inaugural season, the team finished in 5th–6th place, after which it replaced two players. Maungzy switched to the mid lane, and Imanuel “Rmitchi” Santos and Eldin “Celiboy” Putra joined Alter Ego in place of Arss and Chester. 

The changes paid off: the team finished in third place, falling just short of the favorites in the race for spots at M1—EVOS Legends and RRQ Hoshi. Given that these teams would later face off in the finals of the first World Championship, the 2018 Alter Ego squad can be considered one of the best teams on the planet.

In the 2019 season, the team decided to continue playing together, but was unable to repeat or improve upon that achievement: Alter Ego was once again eliminated from the MPL in the first round of the playoffs, and at the major MPL Invitational 4 Nation Cup tournament, they didn’t even make it past the top 8.

By the fall, Leomurphy and Maungzy (who changed his nickname to Ahmad) decided to make changes once again. The Indonesian club’s roster was joined by expert Rafli “Pai” Sudrajat and mid laner Muhammad “Udil” Ardiansyah, while Celiboy remained in the jungle position. This roster marked Alter Ego’s first truly major successes: the team took second place in MPL Indonesia Season 6 and qualified for the World Championship, and shortly thereafter won its first trophy—the ONE Esports MPL Invitational 2020. In the final, AE defeated Bren Esports 3–0.

The team also put on a strong showing at the M2 World Championship in Singapore. After finishing second in their group, the Indonesian five-man squad easily defeated Russia’s Unique Devu and then advanced to the semifinals, where they lost a close match to Bren Esports in a rematch (1–2). Alter Ego finished in 4th place at M2 and won $16,800. 

However, following a successful 2020 season, Alter Ego MLBB faced a prolonged slump that lasted several years. The team played the MPL Spring Split with its old roster and finished only in 5th–6th place, while in the fall it finished in the top 4 but once again missed out on the World Championship. 

Incidentally, it was then that Siauki “Nino” Sumarno made his debut in the country’s top league: that summer, the 17-year-old talent replaced Ahmad in the starting lineup and remains in the explainer position at Alter Ego to this day. But before their spectacular run to the M7 finals, there were several more disappointing seasons—from 2022 to 2024, Nino’s team languished at the bottom of the MPL Indonesia standings and made it into the top 4 only once.

Rosters changed, the approach to player selection changed, and opponents changed—but Alter Ego simply couldn’t return to the top tier. The year 2023 proved to be relatively successful: the club finished third in MPL Indonesia Season 11 and won the Johor All Star Esports Championship 2023 LAN tournament in Malaysia. 

However, the following season, Nino and his teammates once again failed in both MPL seasons (finishing 8th and 6th), and in smaller commercial tournaments, they couldn’t even make it to the finals. At the end of 2024, out of desperation, management invited a Dota 2 coach to save the team: Kenny “Xepher” Deo, who in his previous discipline had reached the top 8 at The International 2021 and the top 3 at the WePlay Major in Kyiv.

While the top teams were preparing for the M6 World Championship, Xepher had more time to prepare for the new season. Only Nino remained from the previous roster, and the team decided to build the new project around him: he was joined by three new players from other mid-tier clubs and Arifudin “Arfy” Putra from the Alter Ego academy.

Despite its modest roster, the club was already contending for top spots in MPL Indonesia Season 15 by spring: Alter Ego finished in fourth place but came close to qualifying for the global 2025 Mid-Season Cup in Riyadh. And in the fall, the team came within a hair’s breadth of the title—in the MPL final, they lost only to the formidable ONIC (1–4), but still qualified for the home M7.

Ahead of the World Championship in Jakarta, Indonesian fans were counting on the “Hedgehogs” above all else, but after a spectacular victory at the Games of the Future in Abu Dhabi, ONIC failed to make the cut for M7, losing out to Yangon Galacticos and Team Spirit. As a result, local fans had no choice but to pin their hopes on Alter Ego—especially since Xepher’s team won every map in the group stage and then knocked ONIC into the lower bracket in a head-to-head matchup (2:0).

Alter Ego then lost to Aurora PH, but found their form in the lower bracket and won three matches in a row, unexpectedly securing a spot in the World Championship grand final. The team caused a sensation and gave Indonesian fans a reason to celebrate, although in the decisive match for the trophy, they looked much weaker and deservedly lost (1:4).

Unfortunately, Alter Ego’s fairy tale came to an end rather quickly. As early as the spring of 2026, the team finished in seventh place at MPL Indonesia Season 17, failing to even advance to the playoffs. In the summer, the team continued to compete with the same roster, but this season they are significantly trailing both of Indonesia’s top teams and risk missing the World Championship once again. 

At various times, the Alter Ego club fielded three other teams in addition to its main squad. Alter Ego’s women’s roster existed from 2020 to 2023 but never competed in global championships, limiting itself to occasional successes in local tournaments (a victory at the Woman Club Series Season 2 and a third-place finish at the Dignity of Srikandi in March 2021). The roster was disbanded three years ago.

The club’s academy has been much more successful. Players from Alter Ego X have occasionally moved up to the main team and to other MPL clubs, and the roster has won the MDL Indonesia youth league twice (in the fall of 2021 and the summer of 2025). In the current MDL Indonesia Season 14, the team made it to the playoffs, finishing the Swiss stage with a 3-2 record.

In September 2026, the club also launched a Chinese roster under the name Alter Ego CN. Unlike the main roster, the team came extremely close to qualifying for M8 but ultimately finished in third place in the local MLBB China Masters Season 3 league.

During its time competing in MLBB, the Alter Ego club has earned $641,541 in prize money. At the M2 World Championship, the team finished in 4th place and earned $16,800, and five years later, they reached the M7 finals, where they earned $150,000—their largest prize to date.