Smart Omega, the professional esports team backed by Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart), has unveiled that the Kings of Southeast Asian Mobile Legends: Bang Bang will be carrying its banner for the upcoming Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League-Philippines Season Eight.
Composing the squad are Mobile Legends icon Billy “Z4pnu” Alfonso, superstar tank Joshua “Ch4knu” Mangilog, two-time MPL champions Kielvj “Kielvj” Hernandez and Renz “Renzio” Cadua, along with incoming sophomore Duane “Kelra” Pillas and veteran support Patrick “E2MAX” Caidic.
Completing Omega’s 10-man roster are former ULVL support and MPL veteran Dian “Dian” Cruz and rookies Romeire “Allidap” Padilla, Dean “Raizen” Sumagui, and Robert “Hito” Candoy.
Jomie “P4kbet” Abalos, who steered Execration to the MPL Philippines Season Seven grand finals and the MSC championship, will call the shots for the Smart-backed squad.
Though saddened by the release of their long-time players almost 10 days ago, SMART Sports head Jude Turcuato believes that acquiring the former Execration roster, which features a mix of veterans and up-and-coming players, is the best possible move for Omega Esports moving forward.
“I think it’s the best-case scenario for us. I think it was a slight disappointment I think late last year when we did compete with BREN in Singapore and we didn’t win. And for us to be able to have this type of team with our revamp is for me the best-case scenario to have the Southeast Asian champions now fully supported by the resources of SMART and SMART Omega,” said Turcuato.
“The talent that we have, the popularity and the following that we now have, I think that all the combination gives us, puts us in a very very good situation to do very well across the board performance-wise, popularity-wise and it’s really something that if you’re a SMART Omega fan or in general a Mobile Legends fan, it’s something that exciting news outside of actual matches to see a team like that get into even a higher profile situation so we’re very very happy as you probably have predicted to have been able to put this together and have team Execration join and become SMART Omega.”
The new Smart Omega esports athletes will be housed in the Smart Omega bootcamp, complete with fully functional facilities to help them prepare for future tournaments. Smart has also provided the players with Smart 5G devices and a Smart 5G Rocket WiFi device to help them sharpen their skills and train seamlessly on the telco’s superfast 5G network.
“The feeling of having a new team is both refreshing and just pure awesomeness. But deep down, we are very anxious to see if both Omega and the past Execration team will embrace the evolution when two different cultures mix,” said Omega Esports Chief Operating Officer Patrick Cruz.
Z4pnu also shared that they are grateful to be part of the new team. “Maraming salamat sa pagtanggap sa amin dito. Gagawin namin ang best namin. Para sa amin, start pa lang ito ng aming journey at pinapangako namin na gagawin naming lahat ng makakaya namin,” Z4pnu shared.
“Ang message ko naman sa fans, sana suportahan niyo pa rin kami kahit may bago kaming team, sama-sama pa rin kaming lalaban sa mga tournament. At alam ko, lahat kayo nandyan. Maraming salamat,” he added.
Following their sensational win at the recently concluded Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Southeast Asia Cup 2021 (MSC), the Kings of MSC – the former Team Execration — managed to do a “Cinderella-run,” striking a legendary comeback to book a Grand Finals spot, facing the undefeated fellow Filipino squad Blacklist International. The MSC featured some of the best squads from the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand.
The biggest supporter of Philippine esports
Over the past few years, Smart has proven its strong commitment and support to the Philippine esports community by partnering with game creators and esports tournament organizers here and abroad, delighting subscribers with exclusive offers, and actively playing a role in the Philippine Esports Organization (PESO), the official National Sports Association that governs and develops esports for the over 43 million gamers in the country.
Earlier this year, Smart launched its Double GIGA Games promo, which gives Smart and TNT subscribers 2 GB of data every day for seven days to access their favorite mobile games like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Clash of Clans, Arena of Valor, Clash Royale, and Call of Duty Mobile, as well as to stream gaming content from their favorite creators on FB Gaming, plus 2 GB of open-access data for only P99.
Smart subscribers can register to Double GIGA Games via the GigaLife App, which is downloadable on the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, and Huawei Mobile Services. Subscribers can also register by dialing *123# and choosing DOUBLE GIGA.
“We believe that Filipinos are indeed among the best esports athletes in the world. Through our carefully crafted prepaid promos and our strongest LTE and 5G networks, we hope to help casual and professional players develop their skills and talent to reach greater heights. We also hope that our new Smart Omega team members can serve as an inspiration to Filipino MLBB casual players and fans to help them pursue their passion for esports,” said Jane J. Basas, SVP and Head of Consumer Wireless Business at Smart.
