This article is written in partnership with MOONTON. Download MLBB for free today.
North American champions BTK have continued their dream run at the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) M3 World Championship after a dominant performance today in the Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Center. They took down EVOS SG 3-1 in an intense match to advance to the tournament’s upper bracket finals.
Coming into this game, both teams looked confident. EVOS SG had already defeated BTK in a one-sided match in the group stage, while BTK knocked tournament favorites Blacklist International down to the lower bracket in their previous match.
Unlike the group stage, though, EVOS SG weren’t able to dominate this match as many expected the Singaporean champions to do. They’ll now face Todak in the lower bracket.
BTK, on the other hand, are absolutely on fire at the M3 World Championship. This is the first global MLBB esports tournament for the U.S.-based team. Most people didn’t expect them to get this far due to their lack of experience at world-class esports tournaments. With no coach or analyst, the independent team have now guaranteed a top-four finish at the 16-team world championship.
BTK—comprised of Victor, FwydChickn, SHARK, MobaZane, and ZIA—will look to continue their spectacular performance and take the trophy home to North America for the first time. They’ll now face Onic Philippines, who are also producing a surprising showing at M3. In their previous match, Onic pulled off a clean sweep against the Indonesian powerhouse RRQ.
Game one: BTK
As usual, BTK focused on heroes that favored teamfights and aggression, as opposed to EVOS SG, who had a siege composition.
While it’s tough to achieve victory with this composition, EVOS seemed to have the match under control in the early game. They avoided teamfights and focused on objectives. Even though BTK got first blood and the turtle, EVOS maintained a gold lead of about 1,000 due to their intelligent rotations.
In the mid game, however, BTK started to make a comeback. They forced teamfights and picked off isolated members of EVOS SG to force a 2,000 gold lead as the match headed into the late game, which was completely dominated by BTK.
They captured the Lord to push down the lanes while destroying their opponent’s turrets. EVOS SG couldn’t respond and the North American champions shattered their base in under 14 minutes.
MobaZane, who played Roger, was given the MVP for the match. The player dominated and had a K/D/A of 6/0/6.
Game two: EVOS SG
EVOS SG made a strong comeback in game two to show why they’re the Singaporean champions. From start to finish, they were in control of this intense 22-minute match.
Unlike game one, they had a great draft to pick aggressive heroes, such as Potato on Karina. They also managed to shut down MobaZane, who was playing Barats, from the early game to prevent him from snowballing.
While BTK were able to set up a good defense and also captured the Lord twice, EVOS SG played passively and focused on macro play. BTK usually rely on teamfights and kills to get ahead and they didn’t have a response to this type of gameplay.
Unsurprisingly, Potato was awarded the MVP for game two. On Karina, the player was absolutely deadly and even picked up a four-kill combo.
Game three: BTK
EVOS SG returned with a more scaling-type lineup, focusing on their usual passive gamestyle. Potato made a return on Karina after a great performance in game two.
BTK, on the other hand, responded by giving Roger to MobaZane, who had an amazing game one on the hero.
Unlike the last game, BTK had better map control, which enabled them to take the first two turtles. Even on the backfoot, EVOS SG were playing well and not overstepping while denying MobaZane farm and kills.
While they managed to do so, Victor on Chou and ZIA on Lylia were able to tune up the aggression for BTK. Despite this, EVOS SG looked set to push the game late, which is when they would have excelled.
But a teamfight loss in the EXP lane fueled by MobaZane’s triple kill saw the entirety of EVOS get wiped out. This enabled the North American team to destroy their opponent’s base in 16 minutes, putting BTK on the match point.
While all of BTK played well, the MVP went to ZIA, who dominated on Lylia. With six kills and five assists, he had a kill participation rate of 73 percent.
Game four: BTK
As MobaZane returned to Roger for the third time today, BTK looked hungry to close out the series in game four.
While the early game was fairly balanced, BTK started taking control in the mid game. With great rotations, effective map control, and isolated kill pickups, they headed into the late game with a 5,000 gold lead.
As has been the norm for the whole of the M3 World Championship so far, giving that much of a lead to BTK usually means the game is over—and that’s exactly what happened.
Victor, who was playing on Lapu-Lapu, held off EVOS SG as his team captured the Lord. While he died after a lot of determination, BTK were able to shatter EVOS’ base in just 12 minutes and 10 seconds, making this the shortest game of the day.
The MVP for the crucial series decider was given to SHARK, who was vital on his Lolita in game four. He picked up two kills and seven assists without dying even once to help his team capture the victory.
Are you looking for more information about MLBB and the M3 World Championship? Make sure to check out our official coverage spot on Dot Esports. You can also download the game for free.
