AP.Bren confirm “Pinas lang malakas” with M5 World Championship win

Indeed, ‘Pinas lang malakas’ and history has been made as AP.Bren win the M5 tournament with style. The team not only won the M5 World Championship, but also became the first two-time M-Series world champion.

AP.Bren as the embodiment of ‘Pinas lang malakas’

‘Pinas lang malakas’ is not just a statement, but a mantra that makes the dream of the Philippines as the strongest MLBB nation a reality. It’s wider meaning is that the Philippines is the only strong country when it comes to playing Mobile Legends. AP.Bren puts an end to the debate in 2023 that Indonesia might have put a stop to Philippine domination in the professional MLBB esports scene after Onic Esports won the MSC championship in June.

Some members of AP.Bren was asked about how they feel towards the famous Filipino statement.

AP.Bren’s Rowgien “Owgwen” Unigo stated that ‘Pinas lang malakas’ is a cheer that summarizes all the achievements Philippines listed throughout the years when it comes to the professional MLBB scene.

“I think when it comes to the Philippines, I think that’s the main cheer for us because we won a lot of major international tournaments. So, it means a lot to us.”

Slaying the Sky Kings and making history

AP.Bren had their rematch against upper bracket finals winner Onic Esports, who are regarded as the “Sky Kings” of Indonesia in the grand finals of M5. After their first encounter where Onic dominated the Filipinos in a 3-0 clean sweep to send AP.Bren down the lower bracket, AP.Bren managed to climb their way back by beating fellow Filipino representatives Blacklist International.

Games one, three, four, and seven were all won by AP.Bren, while Onic managed to get the win in games two, five and six. The series lasted for almost five hours, but it was all worth the wait for the Philippines.

Aside from AP.Bren’s feat of becoming the first two-time M-Series champions, the team is also the first to win the title as a host country. No other team has won an M-Series title in their home country during the first four iterations of the tournament. But AP.Bren has broken the curse and bagged the world title in front of their home crowd.

What’s next for AP.Bren?

When asked about the next plans of the team, AP.Bren head coach and now two-time M-Series world champion Francis “Duckeyyy” Glindro shared that one of their next targets as a squad is to win the MSC Championship.

“I have my eyes on MSC for sure. I don’t have an MSC title just yet. That’s pretty ironic, I just said earlier that titles don’t really matter but I want my boys to get it all. Those are like gym badges in Pokemon.”

Also, all of them said that they will first take a well-deserved rest while enjoying their M5 world championship reign.

AP.Bren Duckeyyy commented on Blacklist’s form as well

Aside from slaying Indonesia’s Onic Esports in the grand final, AP.Bren first battled it out with Blacklist International in an all-Filipino lower bracket finals. Head coach Francis “Duckeyyy” Glindro shared his thoughts about their match against their fellow Philippine representative.

Speaking in the post match interview, Coach Duckeyyy compared how his team adjusted for both Blacklist and Onic. According to him, it was “easier” for AP.Bren to adjust for Blacklist in terms of preparations compared to their game plan for Onic.

“For Blacklist, since we have been playing against them for a very long time, I think we adjusted really well in terms of preparations. It was easier for us to prepare for Blacklist than Onic Indonesia. I think that’s one of the top things that happened back there.”

However he did point out that Blacklist is still a good team.

“I think Blacklist, they’re still so good. It’s just that, there’s something lacking at the moment. I can’t pinpoint what it is. For sure, they’ll find it. We look up to Blacklist for a long time already. They’re able to do all these wonderful miracles for their players. Hopefully they bounce back stronger.”

With both Filipino teams in the top three, it’s obvious that ever since M2, the Philippines are always the World Champion. Their teams are the meta creators for every event so far.

I do hope 2024 mixes things up a bit, but I also hope we get to yell “Pinas lang malakas” next year as well!

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