4 days ago
NCAA to stage Mobile Legends: Bang Bang tournament
By BEA MICALLER,GMA Integrated News
The NCAA is set to launch a special event that features Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, one of the most popular esports in the country, before formally closing out Season 100.
NCAA management committee chairman Hercules Callanta of Lyceum of the Philippines University shared that the ML:BB tournament will fire off on June 28 with the first round robin happening until the 29th.
The second round robin will be held from July 12 to 13 before the offline finals round take place from July 25 to 27 in the Philippine Game Development Expo (PGDX) at the SMX Convention Center.
Callanta, though, emphasized that the ML:BB competition is not part of the regular calendar of events, but stressed the NCAA is open to the idea of including it for good in the future.
"It's a special event. The aim is to highlight 'yung mga popular games in the Philippines that are not part of the calendar of events ng NCAA pero they're very popular," Callanta told GMA News Online on Monday.
"And to see the sport and how it will be received by the member schools and possibly look at the logistical needs and the possibility of including it sa regular sports."
This will not be the first time that NCAA schools are taking part in esports events.
In 2021, the Collegiate Center for Esports (CCE) staged an ML:BB contest that featured participation from all 10 member schools. The event drew added interest as several squads were led by prominent collegiate basketball players, including Fran Yu, King Caralipio, Damie Cuntapay, Yukien Andrada, Warren Bonifacio, and Jasper Cuevas.
LPU emerged as the inaugural champion of that tournament with Yancy Remulla taking home the MVP honors.
Callanta said the league's past experiences in hosting or participating in esports tournaments paved the way for the introduction of ML:BB this year while also sharing that Valorant will be staged next year.
"Actually, through the efforts of Esports Philippines, for the past two or three years already, they conducted competitions in esports among the member schools of the NCAA so sanay na 'yung NCAA sa mga esports competitions kaya lang limited lang."
—JKC, GMA Integrated News
