Defending champion Team Liquid Philippines saw its title defense come to a stunning early end after bowing out of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Mid-Season Cup (MSC) at the Esports World Cup 2026.
The team thus became the first Filipino representative to miss the playoffs in tournament history.
The MPL Philippines champion entered Paris looking to repeat as MSC titleholder, but it instead endured a disastrous group stage run that ended with back-to-back sweep losses against Aurora Trkiye and Peru’s Entity7.
Team Liquid’s campaign got off to a rough start when it suffered a shocking 2-0 defeat to Aurora Trkiye, a squad coached by Filipino mentor Neil “Midnight” De Guzman.
Caught off-guard by Aurora’s unconventional drafts and relentless aggression, the Cavalry found itself on the receiving end of one of the tournament’s biggest surprises. Aurora dominated the opening game, closing out the contest in less than 10 minutes before carrying that momentum into Game Two – which ended in under 15 minutes – to complete the sweep and send the defending champion to the lower bracket.
With its campaign on the line, Team Liquid then faced Peru’s Entity7 in a do-or-die lower-bracket showdown.
Instead of bouncing back, the Philippine champion struggled to regain its footing as Entity7 dictated much of the series. The Peruvian squad controlled key objectives and repeatedly denied Team Liquid opportunities to establish momentum. Although the Cavalry showed signs of life, particularly during the early stages of Game 2, Entity7 remained composed and completed another 2-0 sweep to eliminate the reigning champions from the tournament.
Reflecting on the early exit, jungler Karl “KarlTzy” Nepomuceno admitted that Team Liquid struggled to keep pace with the rapidly evolving competitive landscape.
“The competition is really high this year and I saw a lot of teams improve so much during the update. I feel like it’s our fault that we didn’t adapt very fast. And that has always been the problem for us even before,’ Nepomuceno said during the team’s post-match interview.
Head coach Wei “Aeon” Sheng echoed the sentiment, pointing to the team’s inability to adjust quickly when faced with adversity and changes to the game.
“The biggest challenge [we had]? In terms of performance-wise, I think it’s just ourselves, to be honest. We know that when we play well, we can play really well. But at the same time, when we don’t and when it’s uncomfortable for us, we cannot adapt as fast. So that’s something that we have to work on and reflect on,” said Sheng.
He added, “Looking back, if there’s anything to take away from this, this is it. Because we cannot control what the game developers are going to do. Even if they want to patch one day before the tournament, we can’t do anything about it. So we just need to make sure that our arsenal is big enough for any changes.”
The loss marked a historic low for Philippine MLBB on the international stage.
Team Liquid finished MSC 2026 without a single series victory and without winning a single game, ending its campaign with an 0-2 match record and a 0-4 game slate. The 13th-16th place finish stands as the worst performance by an MPL Philippines team in either MSC or M-Series history.
With Team Liquid now out of contention, the country’s hopes rest on Team Falcons Philippines. The squad will look to keep its MSC campaign alive as MPL Philippines’ last remaining representative when it meets sister and team and wildcard winner Team Falcons in the Group A lower brackets tonight, July 26, at 9:30 p.m. Manila time.