Coach Arcadia reflects on undefeated run in MPL Malaysia

MANILA, Philippines -- Filipinos continue to make a mark in the international esports scene, with many Filipino imports winning championships across different regions, especially in Mobile Legends Bang Bang.

A recent showing of this is the grand finals of Mobile Legends Professional League (MPL) Malaysia Season 13, wherein Selangor Red Giants, boasting of Filipino players and head coach, dethroned reigning champions HomeBois, 4-2.

An esports division of the Selangor Football Club of Malaysia, the Red Giants (as they are commonly known) had an impressive 9-0 regular season run, with all of their matches being 2-0 sweeps.

Their undefeated run continued in the playoffs, dropping only three games, to win their first MPL Malaysia title, in a dominant display over their rivals.

"To be honest, we did not expect that we would sweep all of our matches in the regular season. We were confident that we would win most of our games but we didn’t expect it to be this dominant." reflected Filipino coach Michael "Arcadia" Bocado in an interview with Philstar.com.

No stranger to winning an MPL title, Bocado won his first MPL championship back when he was coaching Sunsparks (who were then acquired by Aura Philippines that eventually became Echo, which is now Team Liquid), en route to the title in MPL Philippines Season 5. He left the Philippines to join Indonesia's RRQ before moving to Malaysia's Red Giants last 2023.

Now in his second year coaching the team, Bocado had thoroughly studied his players and their rivals since he had arrived in Malaysia last season.

He adds, "The first season was actually more like a testing the waters period for me. Because as a coach I had studied the team thoroughly. I had to find out what our strengths and weaknesses are to make proper decisions for the team in finding the right pieces to make a championship run."

The Red Giants had a decent run in Season 12, finishing fourth in the regular season and going on a five match winning streak. They placed third overall in Season 12 after first succumbing to HomeBois in the Upper Bracket finals and stumbling against SMG in the lower bracket finals.

In Season 13, the Red Giants saw Filipino players Mark "Kramm" Rusiana and John "Innocent" Banal and Malaysia's Mage Prodigy, Hazziq Stormie Rizwan and Bocado had been confident in his roster, which was reflected in their sweep of the regular season.

Bu even as they swept the regular season, Bocado made sure that the team was ready come playoffs.

"[Going undefeated], we needed to make sure that we had a lot of strategies prepared going into the playoffs. In addition to that, we also made sure that we are mentally prepared going into the playoffs because the pressure in playoffs is so different compared to the regular season," shared Bocado.
 
With the win in Season 13, the Red Giants have secured their slot in the coming Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Mid Season Cup (MSC) 2024 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, bringing with them a 12-game win streak that fans hope the team can extend. But for Bocado, he hopes his players are not swayed by this pressure.

"I would just remind them that the win streak is just a bonus. So we don’t think too much about it, then we can just focus on our ultimate goal, which [is] to win."