TheOhioBrothers, comprised of veteran Mobile Legends (MLBB) players from North America, will be representing the region at the M5 World Championship. After a third-place finish in the M3 World Championship, NA hasn’t been able to leave much of a mark on the global scene. But, can the experienced players of TheOhioBrothers change that?

TheOhioBrothers were absolutely dominant in the MLBB NACT, the qualifier competition for the region to the M5. They won both Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the Regular Season and also earned a second-place finish in Phase 3, storming into the Playoffs as the favorites. Here, they were even more dominant and cruised through the Playoffs without dropping a single game. In the best-of-seven LAN Finals at the Thunder Studios in Los Angeles, they were up against Avalon but were able to close the series in a one-sided fashion with a scoreline of 4-0.

Image Credits: MOONTON

TheOhioBrothers now look for glory at the M5 World Championship

TheOhioBrothers consist of the following players:

Chris “Mielow” Amiel Enobio (EXP Laner)
Carlos “BestPlayer1” Vega (Jungler)
Jang “Hoon” Seong-hun (Mid laner)
ZIA (Gold laner)
SHARK (Roamer)

Besides Mielow, all four players have international exposure bringing a combination of aggression, experience, and an assurance of performing under pressure. This one also one of the main reasons why the team had such an amazing Playoffs run as they were used to playing in the limelight.

Additionally, SHARK and ZIA were a part of the BTK roster, which made history for North America in the M3 World Championship. It was the first time the region was competing in the MLBB world championship, but they put on a dominating underdog performance to place third. Both players used to be novices then and in fact met for the first time at the airport when traveling to Singapore to compete.

Hoon, SHARK, and BestPlayer1, on the other hand, also represented the region at the MLBB Southeast Asia Cup (MSC) 2023 earlier this year. They played for Outplay but weren’t able to perform well, getting knocked out in the Group Stage. After the tournament, the three players brought in ZIA and Mielow to form an NA powerhouse.

While the players have matured over the past two years as MOONTON works on developing a structured esports ecosystem for NA, conquering the M5 World Championship will be a gargantuan task. Regions like Indonesia and the Philippines are much more competitive and strategically evolved than North America. Beating teams from there will be a huge hindrance. Nonetheless, NA showed in the M3 that it could do it and it remains to be seen if they can replicate that once more.

One more stop for the team before Worlds

Image Credits: MOONTON

Before the team heads over to the Philippines to compete in the M5, they have one pit stop at the ONE Esports MPL Invitational 2023 in Indonesia. For the first time, the MPL Invitational is happening as a LAN event and featuring teams from around the world. Sixteen teams, including TheOhioBrothers, will compete from the GBK Basketball Hall in Jakarta, Indonesia for the bragging rights and a share of the $100,000 prize pool.

The event will present an important pitstop to not just TheOhioBrothers, but other teams in the M5 as well as they go on to compete in the event.

After this, the M5 World Championship will kick off with its Wildcard Stage from Nov. 23 to 26. TheOhioBrothers have directly qualified for the Group Stage which will begin on Dec. 2. Besides the title of world champions, the teams are also fighting for a share of the $900,000 prize pool, which is $100,000 more than the M4.

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