Sibol Men sweep group stage to punch 2025 SEA Games MLBB semis ticket

The Philippines proved why it's the strongest nation in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang after a dazzling start at the 33rd Southeast Asian Games on Saturday at the Chulalongkorn University in Thailand. 

The Sibol Men squad, bannered by the core of reigning back-to-back MPL Philippines Team Liquid, swept its Group B foes to clinch an outright semifinals berth. 

Sibol started the day with a 2-0 shutdown of rival Indonesia, which is regarded to house several best MLBB players in the world, before making quick work of Laos with a similar 2-0 triumph for an unbeaten start. 

The Filipinos, eager to extend the country's three-edition streak at the SEA Games' MLBB contest, then pulled off a 2-0 win against another Southeast Asian powerhouse Singapore. 

Their biggest test came against Malaysia, which is being bannered by the core of former MSC champion SRG led by Stormie and Sekys. But the Filipinos displayed dominance yet again to complete a sweep of the day.

Mid laner Alston "Sanji" Pabico (Yve) had a timely Lord steal at the 13:31 mark of Game 2 using the Real World Manipulation, which also took down the opponent's Gatotkaca in the process. 

That spelled the difference as the rest of Sibol took down three more enemy heroes before marching down the middle lane to destroy the base and stun the Malaysians. 

The Philippines now await the winner of the quarterfinals between Vietnam and Indonesia. Malaysia and host Thailand will duke it out in the  other quarterfinals bracket for the right to face top Group A team Myanmar. 

—JKC, GMA Integrated News