MANILA, 10 February – The much-awaited inaugural season of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Development League Philippines (MDL PH) finally launches from 15 February to 30 March 2023. With the theme "Ilabas ang Lakas," the tournament aims to unleash the strength of Filipino MLBB players.
Through a fully online setup, the tournament will feature ten (10) teams, eight of which will come from MPL-PH franchised teams Blacklist International, BREN Esports, ECHO, Nexplay EVOS, Smart Omega, ONIC PH, RSG PH, TNC Pro Team. Gamelab and ZOL Esports will complete the list of teams to compete and take home the most-coveted title and the lion's share of USD 20,000 or approximately PHP 1,080,000.
"With MDL PH Season 1, we aim to give aspiring professional players a proving ground to showcase their strength in gaming and an opportunity to start their career in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. The Philippines has a rich pool of undiscovered players and talents that show great potential to conquer the bigger stage," says Tonyo Silva, MOONTON Games Senior Marketing Manager for esports.
A Tournament to Unleash Strengths
The Regular Season matches are scheduled to go live at 12 noon (GMT+8) on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and 2 pm (GMT+8) on Thursdays. Day 1 starts on Wednesday, 15 February, via a best-of-three (BO3) match series between RSG Ignite and Gamelab. Playoffs are scheduled for 21 to 23 April 2023.
Both the Regular Season and Playoffs will run a best-of-three (BO3) series in a round robin format. Meanwhile, the grand finals will have a best-of-five (BO5) match series.
The league allows mid-season transfers of athletes and coaches starting 20 February at 10 am (GMT+8), until 27 March at 6 pm (GMT+8).
For athletes, a player may only be transferred once for the entire season. This means that a player that has been transferred to another league may not go back to their league of origin once the transfer has been finalized.
A player may only transfer from their MDL team to their MPL team up to three (3) times per season. However, MPL to MDL transfers are unlimited per season provided the roster will not go below the player minimum (5 starters and 1 substitute) and may not go beyond the maximum (5 starters and 5 substitutes).
A coach may also be transferred following the same process, but only two (2) times per season. The right to transfer coaches and players only applies to those with a parent MPL franchise team. Both Gamelab and ZOL Esports are not eligible.
