Coldstar: “It’s nice to now count ourselves among the top regions as well, following our victory at the MLBB Mid Season Cup 2026.”

I think we’ll have a classic, standard routine—the classic, familiar way of preparing, once again. And boot camp, I think... We’ll see what format the MCC Season 8 playoffs take. Most likely, boot camp will be before the grand final.

In terms of the schedule, we’ll stick to our standard format. Maybe at first we’ll have a slightly lighter schedule to allow more time for rest and give the guys more opportunities to take care of things they weren’t able to do during the intense tournament schedule. Plus, I think the team needs to rest more right now, because we’ve put in a lot of work and expended a lot of energy. Preparing for a tournament is, to some extent, grueling work, and we’re still in the thick of it—in other words, we haven’t had a moment to catch our breath and relax. I’d like to find some time for that before the next international competition, and I hope we’ll be able to do so.

I think so—why not? Our region deserves it. In any case, there are a lot of good players, young talents, and guys who perform well. Why not give them a chance? We’re kind of counting on continuing to win, and when other teams also have the opportunity to qualify for an international tournament, it naturally boosts interest in the region and viewers’ interest in global events. Perhaps some organizations or clubs will even decide to pay more attention to Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, so I’d say this is a very good sign. It’s really cool that this is happening.

I suppose many people are wondering, “Why don’t Indonesia and the Philippines get three or four slots?”—especially when we look at other disciplines, such as League of Legends, where China and Korea each have four teams at international events. Here in MLBB, however, there are two teams each from the top regions. It’s nice to now count ourselves among the top regions as well, following our victory at the MLBB Mid Season Cup 2026. Securing three slots is a sign that EECA is starting to be recognized as a top region, and we want it to stay that way. Naturally, for us, this means additional pressure in terms of expectations. But we want to work toward achieving great results.

I don’t entirely agree that young teams surprise us so often with their drafts. I’d say that many rosters, so to speak, lack creativity. The idea that you need to surprise is correct, especially if you’re the underdog. You have to surprise your opponent in some way if you can’t play to the meta. You have to try things out and show what you’ve got. There are teams that do this. The Yangon Galacticos, for example—the team we faced in the MSC 2026 Grand Final—is one such team. They were considered the underdog and had a roster capable of pulling off something unexpected.

In our region, from what I’ve seen, it’s very rare for sudden, niche picks to emerge and pull off something cool. We don’t see enough of that in EECA. I think there could be more creativity—it wouldn’t hurt. But I know that in the history of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, there have been times when an EECA team came in and pulled off all sorts of things, like Gossena in mid… I know that when Fangor played mid lane, he’d pick unconventional heroes, like Martis, for example. So there have been a few isolated instances like that, and it’s great that they exist. But I think there could be more of them.