About nine months ago, BREN Esports faced a huge dilemma after forming arguably the best Mobile Legends roster that Philippine esports has ever seen.
With the league’s top players joining forces to play for one team, egos and personalities inevitably clash despite already building chemistry during the Southeast Asian Games.
They already had their occupied with Season Four champions Sunsparks, also under the BREN umbrella at the time. So BREN Esports head coach Ralph “Leathergoods” Llabres knew that they needed someone to lead the organization’s flagship MLBB team.
“With an all-star lineup comes a bigger problem. Egos were big and attitudes no better. That is why we knew in our company that we were not gonna be able to handle this with just the current support system we have,” said Leathergoods in a Facebook post last October 26.
“Half of our time was already full with Sunsparks, not counting all the other games that we have. And this is when we identified that we needed another MLBB coach, and that’s when Duckeyyy came in.”
BREN Esports brought in Filipino Mobile Legends coach Francis “Duckeyyy” Glindro, previously part of the EVOS Legends coaching staff that won the M1 World Championships. Then they handed him the keys to run the star-studded squad.
He did not disappoint.
After a heart-breaking Season Five, where they finished in third place, Duckeyyy — who was just in his second season with the organization — steered BREN Esports to one of the most dominant runs that the league has ever seen. They eventually clinched the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League-Philippines Season Six title.
So, how did BREN Esports actually managed to get their hands on a world champion coach? Well, it all started with a gas stove.
A year after leaving his corporate job for an esports coaching gig in Indonesia, Duckeyyy was already contemplating of flying back to the country due to personal reasons.
After all, his gamble to jump to the esports scene had already paid off. By that time, he already had a stuffed resume, winning the world series along with the MPL-Indonesia Season Four title with EVOS Legends.
Then he received a message from an old friend.
“Another factor nung pag-uwi ko dito kasi, kinukulit na ako ni Pheww to come back. Parang sabi niya, ‘Gusto mo mag-coach na lang dito sa Pilipinas?’ And I was like, ‘Sige, pag-isipan ko’,” said Glindro, who played with Pheww in several semi-pro and professional tournaments before.
After several conversations with Pheww, BREN Esports head coach Leathergoods decided pitch to Duckeyyy. And he found out that it only takes one electric burner to sign up the multi-titled coach.
“It’s actually pretty true, ‘yung sa kaldero.
“Si Ralph — which is si Coach Leathergoods, ‘yung head coach for Bren Esports — he said, ‘Oh! Sige sina-suggest ka nung mga bata. Gusto mo bang mag-coach dito?’ And I was like, ‘Kasi coach nagda-diet ako eh, pwede mo ba akong bigyan ng kalan?’ Sabi niya, ‘Seryoso ka ba? ‘Yun lang ba ‘yung kailangan mo?’ Then he said, ‘Sige, bigyan kita electronic na kalan, may kasama pang kaldero’,” Duckeyy recalled.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Duckeyyy was able to give the BREN franchise its first official title. He also became the first coach to win a championship in two different regions. And now, he sets his sight on another world title — only this time, he’s bringing in a Filipino team alongside him.
“Nag-align na kami ng goals namin with my team kasi we really want to bring the world championships with the Filipino squads. I’m happy na aligned din ‘yung mga players ko with my goals, and I’m really happy. I think I’m happy with the result we achieved sa MPL Season Six.”
