Through the good, bad, and in-between, Michael “Arcadia” Bocado has stuck with his Sunsparks family.
He was there when the Sunparks team he inherited won its second consecutive title – the team’s first and last under him. He saw how the team transitioned to Aura PH and then to ECHO. He witnessed how the once dominant, fearless squad fell into the league’s mid-tier and how that very same team lost a few members along the way.
During the highs and the lows, Arcadia was there. And that’s why he hesitated at first when he finally received the call from RRQ Hoshi.
“Honestly, it took me a lot of time to think about my decision as I’ve been with Sunsparks, Aura, and Echo for so long and I didn’t want to leave them,” said Arcadia in an interview with Tiebreaker Times.
But after countless sleepless nights and multiple discussions with his group, Arcadia decided to accept the offer. For him, it was finally time to move on from his family. It was a chance to get out of his comfort zone, an opportunity to explore, and more importantly, to grow.
He needed a place where he could make a mistake and actually feel the fall.
And he’s not getting that from ECHO. No, not from the group of people that treated him like one of their own over the past two years.
“But ultimately after thoroughly thinking about it, I decided that it is time for me to go out of my comfort zone and embrace new challenges,” said Arcadia.
“When I announced it to them, at first they were sad but they understood why I wanted to do it. So we parted on good terms and have no hard feelings because we still all get along today,” he added.
On Wednesday, Arcadia took off the purple and white and switched to yellow and black. It was official – the one-time MPL PH champion coach is heading to Indonesia, the Philippines’ sworn enemy in the ML:BB realm, in a bid to further hone his craft outside the comfort of his home.
The chance to be part of one of the most recognized ML:BB organizations in the world and work with generational talents was just too hard to pass up. But aside from that, their shared vision moving forward proved to be the deciding factor for Arcadia.
“RRQ shared their vision with me and I feel that it’s something that both of us want. RRQ is indeed a powerhouse and I’m honored to be part of this organization and I’m really excited to further grow the team to its maximum potential.”
Without a doubt, the pressure is definitely on for Arcadia as he is set to take over an RRQ Hoshi team who was coming off a huge win in the MPL Indonesia Season Nine where they bagged the organization’s fourth title in 10 seasons.
But the 30-year-old coach is unfazed by the pressure. After all, he’s been through it before. To be exact, that is how exactly his MPL career began.
Arcadia, a former teammate of Ralph “Leathergoods” Llabres, was handed the keys to lead Sunsparks’ title defense in the MPL Philippines Season Five which eventually ended in success as the team defeated rival ONIC PH in the grand finals.
In Season Nine, pressure once again knocked on Arcadia’s doors as he was tasked to handle a star-studded ECHO squad that included the likes of Karl “KarlTzy” Nepomuceno, Benedict “Bennyqt” Gonzales, Tristan “Yawi” Cabrera, Frediemar “3MarTzy” Serafico, and Jankurt “KurTzy” Matira. And even though he failed to replicate his Season Five feat, Arcadia said that he has learned to embrace the looming pressure because of that experience.
“I always see pressure as part of life and for me, it’s something that I’m already used to. In Season Five we were expected to be the back-to-back champion and fortunately, we delivered. In Season Nine the expectations again were high when our team was dubbed as a super team,” he said.
“So for me, pressure is something that makes me more motivated because I see it as a challenge.”
Now, the pressure is definitely at its highest as Arcadia will be handling an RRQ Hoshi squad – which has a legion of unforgiving fans behind it – that has been denied an international title since the Philippines started its dominant streak at the tail-end of 2019.
“We want to take it step by step.
“First, we need to get the championship this MPL ID S10 then we set our eyes on taking M4. I think the biggest challenge will be figuring out what meta to use when M4 comes because the PH and ID metas are really different from each other,” said Arcadia.
There’s this saying that perfectly fits Arcadia’s past and present situations. Something about old dogs and their inability to learn new tricks.
But just like what he did with Sunsparks in Season Five, Arcadia is willing to go through all that again – the good, bad, and in between for his newfound family.
