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| Call them SRG.OG from now on. Moonton (file photo) |
MANILA--OG, arguably the world's most successful DOTA 2 franchise, is entering the Land of Dawn through no less than the current king of the Esports World Cup's men's MLBB division.
Reigning MLBB Midseason Cup champion Selangor announced on Monday night that it will partner with OG for its 2025 campaign, which begins with MPL Malaysia Season 15 next month.
The Red Giants will now have the initials SRG.OG to their players' names while being flashed on the screen.
Interestingly, the joint venture was formalized even though the EWC restricted its rules on such partnerships to the points they would receive from each esports title.
Due to an influx of joint ventures forged before last year's inaugural staging, the EWC made a major amendment: points gotten by such alliances will only be given to the mother teams, not the other franchises that decided to forge the ventures.
Had OG forged the tie-up with Selangor last year, all the 1,000 points the latter got for ruling the MSC would have been credited to the former.
The new rule, however, will ensure that only Selangor will get all the points even if it now has a joint venture with OG.
The amended rule prompted Fnatic and NIP, also known as DOTA 2 powerhouses, to end their respective partnerships with the entire Onic and Flash groups.
The new rule also inspired Team Falcons, Twisted Minds, and Aurora to expand their respective MLBB reaches with Falcons recruiting the former AP Bren roster to become the new Team Falcons Philippines, Twisted Minds signing up the core of Blacklist International to become Twisted Minds Philippines, and Aurora now with a Turkish team made up of former S2G and Incendio stars.
The team name rule also inspired NaVi to rebuild its MLBB division and buy Rebellion Esports' roster lock stock and barrel for MPL Indonesia Season 15, which is now underway.
Apparently, though, OG would not mind the new EWC alliance rule as it continued the joint venture with Selangor, which had a sensational 2024 in general after also achieving a calendar year grand slam in MPL Malaysia and winning the IESF World Championship.
Selangor only came two wins short of completing the MLBB pro circuit's first-ever "golden road."
It settled for third place in the M6 World Championship, which Onic Philippines eventually won.
Selangor has yet to officially unveil its MPL Malaysia Season 15 roster, but it is very likely that it will be keeping its entire 2024 lineup led by Filipino head coach Michael "Arcadia" Bocado and imports Mark "Kramm" Rusiana and JV "Innocent" Banal.
Ilman "Gojes" Zulkifli returned to the newly rechristened SRG.OG squad after he was loaned to HomeBois for the Snapdragon Pro Series Challenge Season last January, but it is still unknown if he will be in SRG.OG's domestic league lineup.
Follow him on X: @IvanSaldajeno
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