MPLSG Season 4 kicks off: Singapore’s biggest esports tourney opens entries for qualifying rounds

Fancy yourself a bit of a pro at Mobile Legends (MLBB)? Perhaps consider joining the qualifiers for the upcoming Mobile Legends Professional League SG (MPLSG) Season 4.

MPLSG is currently the most lucrative e-sports competition in Singapore with a $100,000 prize pool. That’s almost 40,000 cans of Monster energy drinks, woah.

There’s more to it than just the money of course–true competitors and esports athletes want a chance to compete and push themselves to the limit, and the MPLSG represents a good opportunity to do so.

That’s because top players from MPLSG feature heavily in Singapore teams participating in international esports tournaments. At the recent Southeast Asia Games held in Hanoi in May 2022, 10 medals from eight esports games, including MLBB, were up for grabs. Singapore secured the bronze medal for MLBB–Singapore’s first medal at the SEA Games for MLBB–and many players in that team were professional players from MPLSG.

Tournament Format

Season 4 is made up of three phases, and the first phase is the Open Qualifiers (20-21 August) where teams fight it out for two spots. The two qualifying teams will then join the top six teams from Season 3 to form the Regular Season lineup for Season 4.

The Regular Season is scheduled for every Saturday to Sunday, from 3 to 25 September 2022. It will be played out as an eight-team league format where every team will play each other once.

The top six will then be seeded accordingly to their standings in the league and proceed to a double-elimination format playoff, culminating in a single-elimination Grand Final, which will take place from 7-9 October, 2022. 

The Grand Finalists will qualify for the M4 World Championship in January 2023, where they will take on the best that the world can offer. Given that MLBB is immensely popular in Asia, the trope that there is always an Asian who can do it better takes on a meta-level significance.

Breakdown of the Prize Pool

The winning team will walk away with a tidy sum of $30,000 while the second-placed team will receive some form of consolation in the guise of $15,000. All teams in the regular season are assured of a payout: 3rd – SGD$5,000, 4th – SGD$4,000, 5th & 6th – SGD$2,500, 7th & 8th – SGD$1,500.

On top of that, teams will also receive prize money for games played during the Regular Season, with additional incentives for the winners of each match.

Partnership

MPLSG is partnering with award-winning homegrown esports production company Zenway of Seasons 4 and 5, with a shared vision to create a sustainable, scalable, and accessible esports ecosystem. Zenway will be in charge of MPLSG’s league operations, broadcasting and talent management.

The league is also looking to promote inclusivity and diversity by opening its third-party tournament policy to encourage more partners, brands, and organisers to create or run esports competitions, and interested parties can sign up here. The league will provide support through in-game resources or promotional activities, in line with its objective of “making #EsportsForEveryone”.

Lee Jian Ming, Managing Director of Zenway Productions, said: “Esports is the new sport that is connecting the youths of the world. It has gone mainstream and at MPLSG we are both celebrating the glory of esports talents and setting the stage to develop local heroes who will carry the pride of Singapore in national esports competitions.”

Registrations for MPLSG Season 4 will close at 2359H on 18 August 2022, so do register your team before then.