Filipino esports organisation Blacklist International has announced a partnership with Malaysian esports organisation Team Lunatix for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang’s MDL Philippines.
As a result, Blacklist International and Team Lunatix will form a new roster for the upcoming season of MLBB’s development league.
In a YouTube vlog, Tryke Gutierrez, CEO of Blacklist International, stated that the partnership aims to “open up more opportunities for other players who want to join MDL”.
Alongside the partnership announcement, Team Lunatix revealed in a series of Facebook releases that the organisation is relocating its operations from Malaysia to the Philippines, a move signalling Team Lunatix’s first foray into the Philippine esports scene.
On the other hand, Blacklist International’s inaugural MDL team — Blacklist Academy — will be merged with the team’s main roster to create a ten-man lineup in MPL Philippines Season 12, MLBB’s’ top franchised league in the region.
According to Gutierrez, the purpose of the merge is to spar the players with each other and reveal different angles previously not seen in Blacklist.
Founded in 2019, Blacklist International is a well-known organisation within the Mobile Legends ecosystem, having won the title’s M3 World Championship in 2021.
While the Lunatix partnership is the organisation’s first Blacklist partnership in the MLBB scene, it has fielded collaborative teams in other esports titles. Notably, this includes Blacklist Rivalry— a joint venture with esports betting company Rivalry, and a League of Legends: Wild Rift team with another esports heavyweight G2 Esports, partnering together to form G2 Blacklist.
MPL Season 12 sees Blacklist International go head-to-head with seven other franchise teams to qualify for the upcoming M5 World Championships, set to be held in Manila, Philippines.
Alongside Lunatix and Blacklist International’s new squad, MDL Philippines Season 2 features seven other MPL franchise development teams alongside four non-MPL teams.
