via Graphic Plus (with 1xBet) — The creators of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) were set to hold the seventh World Championship last year, but due to a busy schedule that included the December 2025 Southeast Asian Games, the world’s best teams will meet in Jakarta after the New Year holidays.
Tournament format
The M7 World Championship occurs from January 3 to 25, 2026, with a prize pool of $1,000,000. The organizers set up three stages:
- January 3–6: Wildcard Stage
- January 10–17: Swiss Stage
- January 18–25: Knockout Stage
In the first stage, eight squads with Wildcard invites competed for just two spots in the Swiss Stage. In the Swiss Stage, the top favorites will join, making the matches much more competitive and exciting. After a week of battles, only 8 of the 16 contenders will remain, and one of them will become the new champion in the Knockout Stage.
M7 World Championship participants
A total of 22 teams qualified for the competition, with the following 16 rosters advancing directly to the main Swiss Stage:
- Team Liquid PH, Aurora Gaming PH (Philippines)
- ONIC, Alter Ego (Indonesia)
- Selangor Red Giants, CG Esports (Malaysia)
- Evil (Singapore)
- CFU Gaming (Cambodia)
- Team Falcons (MENA)
- Black Sentence (LATAM)
- Team Spirit (CIS)
- Aurora Gaming (Turkey)
- Yangon Galacticos (Myanmar)
- DianFengYaoGuai (China)
Two more squads—Mongolian Team Zone and Turkish Boostgate Esports—beat six opponents in the Wildcard Stage to advance.
At this World Championship, the largest group of players comes from the Philippines—every fourth tournament’s player is from our country. Filipinos outnumber their closest rivals, the Indonesians, by more than two times (36 vs. 17) and are part of 9 of the 22 lineups.
Due to several issues, representatives from the North American region, NACT, did not attend the event for the first time in MLBB World Championship history. Since M2, Japan has missed all major competitions, and this time, they couldn’t make a mark internationally either, as ZETA DIVISION lost all three of their Wildcard Stage matches and was eliminated.
M7 World Championship top favorites
Last year’s M6 World Championship winners, Fnatic ONIC PH, struggled at the end of the MPL Philippines Season 16, finishing only in fourth place. As a result, the squad didn’t qualify for M7 and won’t be able to defend their title. The Philippines will be represented at the World Championship by Team Liquid PH and Aurora Gaming PH, who are considered the top favorites.
Team Liquid PH was the runner-up at the M6 World Championship and, in 2025, won both MPL Philippines seasons and the major international MLBB Mid Season Cup 2025. Their current shape exceeds all expectations, so only a miracle could stop Team Liquid PH from winning their first-ever World Championship title. The squad’s jungler, Karl “KarlTzy” Nepomuceno, is aiming for his third World Championship title with his third different team, looking to cement his status as the GOAT of MLBB.
Statistics also favor the Filipino contenders: only the very first M1 was won by Indonesia’s EVOS, while the next six World Championships were all won by Filipino lineups—Bren twice, Blacklist, ECHO, and Fnatic ONIC PH.
The biggest chance to break this impressive winning streak comes from the two other strongest MLBB regions, Indonesia and Malaysia. Debut teams and squads from other territories have almost no chance of winning.
The top three favorites to win the M7 World Championship are:
- Team Liquid PH (Philippines)
- ONIC (Indonesia)
- Selangor Red Giants (Malaysia)
The M7 World Championship for MLBB is in full swing: the first six contenders have already been eliminated after the Wildcard Stage. Next up is deciding the elite eight in the main group stage and the playoffs, leading to the grand final.
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 were set to hold the seventh World Championship last year, but due to a busy schedule that included the December 2025 Southeast Asian Games, the world’s best teams will meet in Jakarta after the New Year holidays.){kind=link}