What will happen to the new MCC season? Clubs are leaving MLBB en masse

In recent weeks, three clubs from the EECA region have disbanded their rosters—Verso Time, FORZE Esports, and Magic have all left the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang division. Today, Virtus.pro joined this list by releasing its men’s roster—the “Bears” now have only their women’s team remaining.

Since the spring of 2025, all teams in our regional MLBB Continental Championships league have had club backing, but now the situation is taking a sharp turn for the worse. Today, we’re analyzing the future of competitive MLBB in our region in the context of the MCC fall season and preparations for the season’s main tournament, the M8 World Championship in Istanbul. 

While Magic’s roster was already on the verge of disbanding after being eliminated from the MCC, the other three teams were contenders to represent the region on the international stage. 

Of the top three teams from the last three EECA League seasons, only Team Spirit remains in the discipline, and of the teams from the next tier, only CyberHero remains. A quick look at their achievements speaks for itself:

Verso Time even qualified for the 2026 Mid-Season Cup, which it ultimately missed due to visa issues—though it had previously performed well against teams from other regions at the 2025 Games of the Future and LAN tournaments in Moscow.

FORZE didn’t qualify for the Mid-Season Cup or M8, but was able to put up a decent fight in all regional tournaments. The roster, featuring young talent Danil “Repa” Dryakhlov, had promising prospects and performed respectably in the regular season and the playoff match against Virtus.pro (2:3) during the last MCC season. 

Both teams plan to continue competing with their current rosters. However, without long-term club support, their chances of developing—including on the international stage—drop significantly: it’s unlikely that playing without a salary or a bootcamp will allow everyone to keep MLBB as their primary occupation.

As for the players from VP and Magic, their future is quite uncertain. On the one hand, the entire roster has a good chance of finding a new home with a salary and a bootcamp. On the other hand, individual stars might be able to bolster the existing rosters of certain clubs.

Since MCC Season 5, all participants in the main regional league have had club support. Will this trend continue in MCC Season 8? It’s actually likely, though there are some nuances.

CyberHero has already announced its intention to support players without a club. Yes, it’s not allowed to have two teams within the same MLBB league, and the organization already has an active roster for the MCC, to which they’ve just signed two foreign players from the Philippines. But if there’s a will, there’s a way: Team Spirit managed to do just that with its youth roster.

There are also smaller clubs in the region that failed to qualify for MCC Season 7. For example, the Aterion organization not only maintains an MLBB roster but also hosts tournaments and is trying to build a comprehensive system—although it’s more focused on developing the amateur scene. 

We can also mention Dark Phoenix, which once again signed two rosters this year (men’s and women’s), Geltek Cyber Team, built around its already high-profile women’s roster, Aurora, or even VSG—if organizations with CIS roots have rosters in other regions, they can open another one in EECA. Will the budget be enough? That’s another question.

Before the start of each MLBB Continental Championships season, teams without an organization are helped to find a club: this was the case with Magic this spring, and the situation became known just 3–4 days before the start of the MCC, with players noting that there were several options right away. Not only does the community help with this, but so do the developers at MOONTON, which is also extremely important for organizations. 

Thus, if the goal is set as “8 MCC participants = 8 clubs,” it is possible to achieve it. There are clubs in the region without MCC slots and without MLBB rosters—although the ban on betting company advertising in team names and on official resources significantly limits this pool.

Another issue is the quality of these organizations and the resources they’re willing to invest in their teams. At the MCC Season 7 boot camp, no more than half of the teams were able to attend, and it’s obvious at a glance just how different the capabilities of Team Spirit or Team Yandex are compared to those of smaller clubs like Magic. And clearly, Aterion and Dark Phoenix won’t be able to match the level of play they demonstrated at VP.

There are different ways to approach this situation. A salary and a gaming smartphone are the bare minimum, but that’s already enough to take the worry out of figuring out what to eat and where to live, allowing players to focus on their professional careers. On the other hand, without a boot camp, a good coach, and management support, it’s exponentially harder for a team to develop to the level of the top teams even in our region, let alone on the international stage.

Of course, the loss of several leading clubs at once sets the region back. But right now, there are only three major organizations left in EECA.

In the long run, Team Spirit and Team Yandex should remain among the region’s leaders thanks to their strong foundations and financial resources. We can add CyberHero to that list—they’re a tier below, but the organization now has no real competitors left. Either way, each of the three clubs has the foundation for proper preparation and a strong showing at M8.

Even if the rest of the teams in the league are just groups of players without salaries, competition among the leaders themselves can remain at an acceptable level. Other regions also have teams without club support—even if we’re talking about specific seasons in Thailand, Turkey, the U.S., and the MENA region.

That said, of course, one cannot help but agree that the overall level will definitely decline, and without worthy opponents, the top teams will also be dragged down. Team Spirit’s players and coach are already complaining that MCC matches don’t serve as good preparation for the MSC and M. And now the situation is set to get even worse.

It will likely become harder to compete with Turkey, MENA, and other growing communities—apart from Team Spirit, there simply won’t be anyone else to deliver strong results, and even the “Dragons” themselves may gradually see their performance decline without fresh talent in the region. If nothing changes (and, alas, there’s no indication that it will), the pro scene will likely stagnate slowly while others continue to develop.

There won’t be a catastrophe right here and now; even at MCC Season 8, only three clubs will be represented. There are a lot of good players in the region who will continue to train and will be able to compete both in the EECA League and at international tournaments.

The difference will become apparent as early as the 2027 season. Some players, following in the footsteps of Vladimir “Pluto” Misyurin, will go inactive, while veterans will start transitioning to streaming or simply end their careers. There will be far fewer newcomers willing to dedicate their lives to MLBB, and within a year or two, the regional scene will decline. Just how much—that’s still open to debate.

In one scenario, Team Spirit will remain the region’s driving force, Yandex and CyberHero will build a solid foundation for competing in global events, and the rest will try to catch up to their success. In another scenario, problems could knock the “Dragons” out of the world’s top ranks, and there would be no one to replace them. In that case, the best we can hope for is making it to the MSC and M playoffs, and any hopes for new victories in the wild-card stage would be lost.

Unless something extraordinary happens (such as the lifting of the ban on bookmaker advertising or a new surge of interest in the game in the region), the truth will likely lie somewhere in the middle. But, of course, we always want to hope for the best.