MANILA, PHILIPPINES– The adobo Esports Mobile Legends Mythical Bowl has put agencies neck-to-neck against each other in tight competition over the past few weeks. With the Grand Finals just wrapped up, we get to know the teams, how they started playing Mobile Legends and their office culture.
AdSpark’s SPARKS
What was the inspiration behind the team’s logo?
“According to Reinier Ng, aka Katol, our logo was designed to be a manifestation of our inner spark. It forms the spark element representing the fire that is within us – in whatever we do and are passionate about. The grungy & rugged look of our logo came from the street style graffiti art. We know that we might have to travel on a rugged path along the way, but we all have our minds set to one thing—WINNING.”
How has Mobile Legends affected life at the office and work culture before and during the pandemic?
“ML actually allows us to bond more online since we can no longer meet in one place to hang.” “Before, we used to flash games on a screen in a central area in the office, though everyone was not able to watch at different times. This time—everyone is online and keeping an eye out! We feel more united!”
How were team members recruited?
“We’ve had tournaments for Mobile Legends in the past within our company , so we handpicked the best players to join this league. It was also a ‘Matic’ Moment for the members to join.”
How often do members practice for the tournament, or play Mobile Legends just for fun?
“Every Saturday we practice with our Mythic-ranked ex-workmate, Paul and his Mythic global squad. (Shoutout to their team who destroyed us almost every practice game. Without them, we’re still the same messed up group a week before the start of the Adobo ML tournament) – Ginar Asombrado, aka AstroGi.
Got a fun fact about the SPARKS?
“Internally, we love to support each other’s passions/obsessions/energy and commitment—whatever floats our boat! Because this is what brings us together and this is what ignites the fire within us.
Dentsu Jayme Syfu’s Team DJS
What was the inspiration behind the team’s logo?
“The logo is inspired from the space-themed logo design of Dentsu Jayme Syfu. We simply combined the graphic UFO to a gaming controller icon.” How has Mobile Legends affected life at the office and work culture before and during the pandemic? “Before the pandemic and even during the pandemic, Mobile Legends is one of many games that we casually play to help us recharge and refresh ourselves at work.”
How were team members recruited?
“We just looked around the office and asked those who we know were still active or at least familiar with playing Mobile Legends. And the first ever player we asked to join Team DJS was ST4Y Gaming [Edwin Casimero] who has also put up his own Facebook gaming page and never stopped playing ML since Season 1.”
How often do members practice for the tournament, or play Mobile Legends just for fun?
“Team DJS didn’t really have a solid team practice due to our differences in schedule, but what we had were solid discussions in our chat group where we share drafting ideas, hero updates and meta, and some pro gaming replays from the MPL.”
Got a fun fact about the Team DJS?
“ST4Y Gaming has a total of 17k matches in Mobile Legends. Also Team DJS has a lot of gamers who would love to see DOTA2, CoDM, Overwatch, Apex, Tekken, and Street Fighter on the next season of Adobo Esports.”
DDB Group Philippines’ DDBangBang
What was the inspiration behind the team’s logo?
“DDB Group Philippines has always been playful with our company name for a lot of our activities–DDBaon, DDBakasyon, DDBowlers. This time, we have DDBangBang, which is just a play on DDB and MLBB (Mobile Legends Bang Bang). For the logo, we decided to use the shape of our logo to symbolize bullets. The logo contains our company logo colors rendered to look like bullets, along with our team name. Pew pew pew!”
How has Mobile Legends affected life at the office and work culture before and during the pandemic?
“Even prior to the lockdown, we’ve actually had an active community of gamers (aka Pasmado Gamers) in the company. We often invite others to play various games (COD, Mobile Legends, Nintendo Switch, PS4, board games) during breaks and after-office hours. Mobile Legends was one of our ways to bond with people from different subsidiaries. When the pandemic hit, Mobile Legends helped us stay connected.
“When we heard about the Adobo Esports team, we actually just asked around in our Pasmado Gamers Viber group if anyone wanted to join the team. No official tryouts were initiated. Our team is a mix of well- versed players (Antoine Kyle Balo, aka Juggernaut and Jinky Andaya, aka Jinx), casual MOBA players, and newbies in MLBB. DDB has always been supportive and participative in inter-agency activities and we’re pretty excited to support this (and our team’s dream of becoming semi-pro Esports athletes. Haha.)”
Got a fun fact about DDBangBang?
“One of our teammates (Chad Velasco, aka Chaddyman) is actually a game streamer. Please like and subscribe to his page, Chaddyman.TV and join his Wyvern Buffs on Ragnarok Online.”
IPG Mediabrands’ IPGG
What was the inspiration behind the team’s logo?
“Bought it from Shutterstock. Whatever it has to offer.”
How were team members recruited?
“It was a spur of the moment, definitely. We just asked everyone in the company who plays Mobile Legends then we picked the players who ranked Mythic.”
How often do members practice for the tournament, or play Mobile Legends just for fun?
“Every goddamn night.”
Got a fun fact about IPGG?
“We work while playing. Mostly playing. Experienced playing while on a client call.”
MullenLowe’s KALABAN
What was the inspiration behind the team’s logo?
“We took it from our Agency’s original ‘challenger’ octopus logo and made it look like a gaming logo. The flat dimension took inspiration from Dota 2’s Evil Geniuses’ and OG’s logo, with the large letters of our team name in the bottom. We tried to make it look villainous so it could embody the ‘Kalaban’ mentality.”
How has Mobile Legends affected life at the office and work culture before and during the pandemic?
“It actually brought us closer, considering we all came from different departments. Also, we were just so noisy after office hours pre-covid which I think helped in recruiting more members,” said Sajid Guerrero, aka Mishua.
How were team members recruited?
“We took the ones available and were brave enough to handle trash talk on live Facebook broadcasts. LOL.”
How often do members practice for the tournament, or play Mobile Legends just for fun?
“We only got to practice when Adobo esports launched the poster. We thought, “boy, it’s for real now.” Which team member is the biggest Mobile Legends fan? “BLACKWIDHOE (Paulo Dela Rosa), might be the biggest fan only because he was able to climb the ranks so fast considering he’s only been playing for less than 6 months. He’ll work for dias I tell you that. He’s not the best though. Hahahahaha!”
Which team member is the best Mobile Legends player?
“I and Yuehan (John Gale) are both Mythics so I guess I have to give it to myself ‘cause I was able to reach Mythic first. LOL.” – Mishua
Got a fun fact about KALABAN?
“You can buy Team KLBN merch! LOL!!!!!!! It wasn’t initially a part of Mullenlowe’s off-strat tote bag project. But some people insisted we sell KLBN merch so we did. Surprisingly, we got multiple orders. HAHAHA.”
NuWorks’ Phoenix
What was the inspiration behind the team’s logo?
“The inspiration behind the logo was originally because we wanted to exhibit the logo of Nuworks Interactive. The phoenix symbol was the logo of Nuworks, and when used in a circular pattern, it means through ups and downs, we will still lift our company till the end.”
How often do members practice for the tournament, or play Mobile Legends just for fun? “Our team makes time to practice at the end of every shift. We try to play at least 2-3 games just to practice our comfort heroes.”
Which team member is the biggest Mobile Legends fan?
“Poginglamig (Ervinne Sodusta) is always the first one to update us with the new metas and builds.” Got a fun fact about Phoenix? “Nuworks always conducts a game night every week: quiz nights, singing bees, Call of Duty Online. It helps keep all of the employees still entertained even though there is a pandemic.”
TBWA\Santiago Mangada Puno’s Mythyakalz
What was the inspiration behind the team’s logo?
“The inspiration behind the logo was the culture of TBWA. Quoting: ‘pirate culture.’ “The pirates of the 18th century didn’t simply rebel for rebellion’s sake: They re-wrote the rules, reinvented society and changed everything, and they did it all in the face of rising inequality, economic disruption, and an uncertain future (Sound familiar?) And as it turns out, pirates were also some of history’s earliest brand marketing mavericks.
“TBWA has long been associated with pirate culture: breaking conventions, ignoring rules, and embracing the new. “Crossbones + skull emblem signify the pirate symbol.”
Which team member is the biggest Mobile Legends fan or best player?
“We could say it’s Mark Rin, aka bingbong22.”
Got a fun fact about the Mythyakalz?
“Maia’s, aka MAIATerminal1, special talent is trash talking. Mythic. :3”
Wunderman Thompson’s GGWT
What was the inspiration behind the team’s logo?
“The owl is a nod to our former agency name, J. Walter Thompson’s original logo in 1880. You’ll also see a ‘+’, an inspiration mark, used to highlight everything we find truly inspiring, insightful, and innovative – including all of the people who make up the Wunderman Thompson network.”
How has Mobile Legends affected life at the office and work culture before and during the pandemic?
“ML is just one of the many games we play in the office during downtime. Especially during Friday nights. We got back to playing when adobo Esports was announced.”
Which team member is the biggest Mobile Legends fan?
“c!tcra (Miel Soneja) and Chewbiko (Bern Cordora) are really big ML fans. Like you can ask them about the lore.” Which team member is the best Mobile Legends player? “Hook God: DOOD (Geoff Estevez).”
The adobo Esports Season 1: Mobile Legends Mythical Bowl inter-agency tournament is co-presented by Globe, powered by ASUS ROG Phone 3 and Mountain Dew, and supported by E-Project.
Catch live games, team standings, and replays on the adobo Esports channel.
